The Breathless World
by ShiraCirca
Summary: A re-imagining of the Elsword world and story, following the characters on their quest to find the El, save the Velder Kingdom, and retake Hamel. Focus on character interactions and exploration of the consequences of the job class decisions characters make. Contains Elsword x Aisha, Rena x Raven, Eve x Chung. Characters and world belong to Kill3rcombo/KoG Studios.
1. The Forest in Winter

I.I The Forest in Winter

* * *

Still. Leaves and branches, dust and air, all absolutely still. A breeze from the north billowed down into the forest, rustling grass and wheat along its way... but just beyond the forest's edge it gasped, strangled by the stillness until it fell dead among the withered leaves. A doe's glassy eye captured the stagnant scenery, its owner long dead. The forest floor was littered with the bodies of its former residents, each strangled by the stillness and preserved by its torpor. Robbed of the power of the El crystal, the air became poison, the ground became stone, and life faltered in its footsteps.

From the road in the midst of the wood, a faint light cut through the stagnant haze. Dust rose and fell on the sandy soil and a twig snapped beneath a heavy footfall. Wrapped in red, the boy marched toward a clearing in the forest, a village deprived of the source of life, his back laden with the weariness of a full day's journey with meager rewards. As he passed through the stillness, the small blue gem hanging from his neck stirred the air and the earth into motion only to see them strangled by the stillness as he moved on. Stifled whispers floated through the air from an open window and the boy picked up his feet, running inside to find a weary man hunched over an old woman's bedside. From that spot alone, a faint glow radiated from a pendant held between the two, the light of its tiny fragment of El just enough to hold the stillness at bay in that one dark corner. As the boy approached, the weary man looked up to him.

"Elsword! Have you found any more?"

The boy reached into a pouch at his waist and withdrew two slivers of El and pressed them into the old woman's trembling hand.

"It should be enough for you to move around the house." Elsword stepped back and everyone relaxed. With all three of them standing there, the room was nearly half full of the faint blue glow of the El. Bracing his hands against his knees, the weary man rose to his feet and returned his small pendant to the confines of his shirt.

"T-Thank you... dear boy... Chief Hagus..." The old woman struggled to sit upright, clenching her hand against her chest.

The chief nodded and rubbed the red edges of his drooping eyes. "Be careful now, Mrs. Appleby. We've had seven dead already from this..."

"Oh ho ho..." Mrs. Appleby forced a ragged laugh, "I'm just as like to die of chill in the night as I am anything. Just be sure to give this El to someone healthier when I go..."

"Don't talk like that!" Elsword glared fiercely at her and his voice quivered. Hagus placed a hand on his shoulder and shook his head.

"Calm down now, you're exhausted from walking all day aren't you? Let's get over to the Inn, everyone's waiting for us there." Hagus motioned for him to head toward the door and then turned back to address Mrs. Appleby, "I'll send Lowe by later to see if you're feeling well enough to come down to help you over to the Inn, it will be much safer and warmer with everyone else around."

"Of course... but don't mind me, I'll make my way over in good time..." Mrs. Appleby gave a strained smile as Hagus and Elsword turned and headed outside. In the frigid winter night, the two passed solemnly through the silent village, its river frozen, its trees bare, and the frozen ground freshly disturbed by the digging of seven graves. All villages need two things to prosper: Water, and the El. The ancient Tree of El near Ruben village had bathed the surrounding area with flood of light from it's massive crystal, allowing several villages to grow and prosper beneath its boughs and spread throughout the forest. Now that the El had been stolen, the villagers struggled just to stay alive in their own homes while the trees and animals died around them. Had this tragedy occurred months earlier, during the harvest... it is unlikely that seven would have been the final tally of the dead. Trudging through the empty street, Hagus surveyed the devastating haze of lifelessness around him.

"What of the other villages, Elsword?"

"They're all worse. There's no El to spare and everyone's huddled together and headed for Elder." Elsword clenched his teeth together.

"Hm... If it were not for you and the others, we would surely be doing the same... but what would we do in Elder? What wealth do we have that we could sustain our entire village there until Lord Wally's soldiers can apprehend the bandits who stole the El?"

"You won't have to! We'll go and take the El back!" Elsword stopped and turned to face the chief, "As soon as we get enough El for Lowe to come with us, we'll-"

"Elsword... we cannot leave the village unprotected. We've only four able bodied fighters here, and you and Lowe are the only two we could ask to stay. If we sent you all out after the bandits, what protection would we have against other that would come to steal what little El we have left in desperation?"

"But if we keep waiting around they'll get away, and it'll be spring before Wally's knights get their asses into gear and even start looking!" The two faced off in front of the Inn, Elsword's eyes fierce and determined, Hagus's tired and calm. While they stood with their gazes locked, the door swung open and a tall knight filled its frame.

"He's right, chief." Lowe glanced at both of them in turn. "And Elsword, watch your mouth. You might be a knight, but you're also just thirteen."

Elsword started to protest but stifled his complaint. "Yes, sir."

"Lowe, you cannot seriously think that four people can take down that swarm of bandits and retrieve the El? Even if you defeated them all, how would you carry the El back?" Hagus stepped inside and removed his cloak, the warm glow of candles and El pouring over him. Elsword followed, closing the door behind him.

Lowe headed over to an empty table and leaned against the back of a chair. "As it stands right now, it'll have to be just three. Aisha, Rena, and Elsword are all we've got, and we don't have time to wait around while those bandits take the El farther away."

"No, impossible... We cannot ask our guests to retrieve our El for us, and Elsword cannot do this alone-"

"I can do it alone!" Elsword rose just as he was about to settle into a seat.

"Sit back down." Lowe looked down at Elsword. "He's right about that part, you'll need help."

"No, I-"

"You're not up to Elsa's level yet." Lowe repeated that name with a gravity matched only by that of the stagnant air outside and Elsword went quiet immediately. The villagers around them all spoke quietly and anxiously, eating the surplus from this year's harvest and trying their best to be content. Hagus stroked his beard and closed his eyes, considering Lowe's plan and its consequences.

"...You may be right... In truth, we don't know where those bandits are headed, nor why they stole the El in the first place. Even with all the wealth from all of the villages in the forest, any ransom would be a paltry sum, and I cannot see Lord Wally emptying his coffers to save a few small villages just barely within his fiefdom. If they try to sell it to another kingdom or take it across the sea... there's little hope for us to ever get it back, and this forest will die, and us along with it..." He sighed and rested his hands on his knees. "Very well. Lowe, you'll stay here to defend the village. Elsword... when our guests return from scouting, the three of you will head out to retrieve the stolen El."

A broad, confident grin spread across Elsword's face. "Don't worry." He loosened a buckle and a loud thud echoed throughout the building as a massive blade fell from Elsword's back. He took it in hand and hefted it over his shoulder, "We'll get the El back, no matter what."


	2. The Swirling Sky

The Swirling Sky

* * *

"On your right!" A shrill whistle ripped through the air as an arrow flew over Elsword's shoulder and into a bandit's wrist. Shifting his feet, Elsword lunged and caught the towering bandit with the flat of his blade, knocking his head into the knot of a gnarled oak. The bandit stumbled to his feet, raised his club overhead, and then felt a sudden need to bring his face flush against the road. Glancing at the fallen and slumped over bandits around him, Elsword relaxed and lowered his shoulders. The crinkling of leaves drew his attention to the roadside and a woman effortlessly stepping through the underbrush as though it were a clear ballroom floor. Latching her bow to her bandolier, she brushed a lock of hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear as she made her way to the nearest unconscious bandit and confirmed his incapacity.

"Good job! Maybe we can get one of them to tell us where they took the El." She smiled cheerfully and Elsword nodded, struggling to get his sword strapped to his back. A light trickle of blood fell from a gash above his left thumb, making the negotiation of straps and buckles unnecessarily difficult. He glanced around, checking for any lingering danger before he lowered his head and asked for help.

"...Rena, could you-" His voice barely rose above a whisper.

"Oh, sure." Rena strapped the sword in tightly and buckled it down, chuckling at Elsword's embarrassment. Perhaps it was because he became a knight at such a young age, or because of the high standards he held himself to, that Elsword waited until the very last instant to admit that he might need help, much less to ask for it. Still, the two of them had taken out five bandits, all adults, and without having to kill any of them, so Rena was rightly impressed that he'd been able to manage to stay in the fight with only a few light cuts and scrapes to show for it. She smiled brightly. In her memory, the ending of this battle, small as it was, stood out as one of the more pleasant experiences of her life.

Just up the road, the air shimmered and burst into light. Stepping out of the breeze, a petite young girl floated down to the ground and promptly collapsed against the nearest tree, breathing heavily and wiping the sweat from her forehead.

"How did it go? Did you catch them?" Rena held out a skin of water which was quickly taken from her hands. After downing the better part of a liter, the mage stood up proudly and grinned.

"Of course! I'm not some-"

"Aisha! You took way too long." Elsword glared at her and scowled.

"You idiot!" Aisha stomped over to Elsword and they stared each other down, "Who was the one that rushed in without thinking and let them get away in the first place!"

Rena moved alongside them and "Hey, let's calm down-"

Elsword was almost growling. "If you weren't so slow and out of shape they'dve never got that far." He scoffed and crossed his arms, "Why did we need to bring along a kid like you anyway?"

"Come on, Elsword, Aisha, stop-" Again, Rena's airy insistence went completely ignored.

"You-! I'm two years older than you!" She shot him a sharp glance and mumbled to herself, "He should be calling me 'Miss Aisha' or 'ma'am' or something..."

Elsword looked her over, twice, and was still skeptical. "...You look like you're about eight."

Aisha raised her wand. "Do you want me to smack you!"

"Bring it on, runt!"

A swift gust swept down against their faces, the wake of Rena's heel as it split the air and slammed against the ground.

"**Cut it out!**" Rena glared sternly. "Do you even know what you're doing? Wasting time arguing about wasting time..."

Elsword threw his arm down in protest. "But-"

"No!" Rena's eyes narrowed and her mouth turned down. "If we're going to work together, we'll need to have a nice talk about how to get along with other people."

"It was his-"

Rena pointed to the road. "Sit. Down." Elsword and Aisha didn't hesitate and within an instant they were on the ground, staring up anxiously at Rena's scowling face. A sudden roar erupted from the roadside just yards away as one of the newly conscious bandits struggled to his feet and charged at Rena. She stepped forward and thrust a knee into his stomach, stopping him cold and shattering a rib. Her feet danced on air as she shifted to his side and swung her heel around to the back of his head, dropping him face first into the dirt just inches from where Aisha and Elsword sat.

"Now..." Rena smiled brightly and clapped her hands together, "Let's tie all these guys up and then we can have our talk, okay?"

Some time later, after a half dozen bandits had been thoroughly secured, interrogated, and decorated with tar mustaches, and after Elsword and Aisha learned the virtues of friendship and, more importantly, of not making Rena angry, the skies clouded over until they began to overflow. Taking shelter beneath a rocky overhang, the three took stock of the situation and discussed their next course of action.

"Hm..." Rena leaned against a soft, moss-covered boulder. "Even though they said the bandit's leader was hiding out in these mountains... it could be months before we searched through every cave... I wonder if I should've interrogated them a bit harder?"

"N-no, they could barely talk by the end anyway, so any more would have been bad..." Aisha smiled awkwardly and tried to forget the bandit's pleas for mercy. Granted, they did provoke Rena when they called her a cow and told her to bend down a bit lower, so Aisha didn't feel that bad about the state they were left in. "...not that I'll ever have the problem..." Aisha grumbled to herself and stared out through the trees and into the mist hanging from the mountainside. Something in the sky seemed out of place, but she couldn't say what it was... the swirling wisps of clouds and a persistent curtain of rainfall made it hard to see anything above the trees clearly. Still, the scene bothered her, and she was certain that some part of the scene before her was severely out of place. She scanned the shadows of the mountain for any sign of movement or any indication of the El until a light splash broke her concentration. Elsword had stepped out into the rain, his hair already dripping as he headed off into the storm.

Aisha hurried after him, stopping just short of the rain. "Wait, Elsword, where are you going?"

"I'm gonna scout around." The turned his head and answered her from over his shoulder. Flecks of rain splattered against Aisha's face and she raised her voice to fight the cadence of the rain.

"By yourself? What if you get caught or something happens to you?"

Elsword grimaced. "I won't get caught, sheesh... I'm a knight, I'll be fine by myself."

"Stop being so stubborn and-"

"Okay! Be safe! We'll stay here and figure out a way to get the El back to Ruben once we find it." Rena hopped over and waved happily as Elsword nodded and headed off into the rain.

Aisha stumbled through a half-formed protest but her voice was swallowed up by the wind. She turned back to Rena, confused and annoyed. "Why'd you let him go? He's going to get lost and probably start a fight with a bear and then we'll have to carry him _and _the El back with us."

Rena giggled lightly. "Don't worry about Elsword... he's going to take a while to warm up to the idea of working with other people." She tilted her head back and smiled softly, "That's just how it is when you're young and you feel like you've got something to prove to yourself..."

Satisfied for the moment, Aisha kicked a stone carelessly and took a place on the mossy rock next to Rena. Although she had stopped complaining, she was still pouting.

"He really must be stupid though... he's definitely gonna catch a cold, and his armor's gonna get ruined."

Rena grinned slyly. "Oh? It seems like you're always really concerned with what he does for someone who just thinks of him as a stupid kid."

Aisha's eyes went wide and she bolted to her feet. "No! I'm not worried about him!" She began fuming just as the lightest blush tinted her cheeks. "It's just that, he keeps making it harder for us to get things done, and he doesn't think before he charges into things."

"But it is impressive that he's got such clear convictions at his age, isn't it?" Rena laced her fingers together and stretched her arms over her head. Still pouting and fuming, Aisha turned to face the forest.

"What are you talking about? He's not impressive at all..."

They spent a moment in silence as Aisha replenished their supply of water just before the rain started to let up. Standing in the clearing between the mountainside and the forest's edge, Rena traced the lines of the clouds and followed them to their center. Nodding to herself, she returned to Aisha and pulled a map out of her pack. After sketching a broad circle over the mountains, she scrawled a few notes and boxed off a small area just a half day's travel to the north. Curious, Aisha approached and peeked over her shoulder.

"What's all that for?"

"Ah, this?" Rena smoothed out the map and held it up for Aisha to see. "This is where the bandits are hiding the El."

"Wait, how can you tell?"

"It's the clouds," Rena walked back to the clearing and Aisha followed. "The El is huge, and so even from inside a cave it'll make the air breathable for miles all around it. There's a small safe area here because of the El buried in the mountainside, but up ahead there shouldn't be enough El to let the rain fall freely over the forest..."

"Ah! Unless they have the El they stole from the El tree somewhere nearby!" Aisha smiled approvingly at Rena and then looked off into the distance. Her boots fastened and her bags secure, Rena rolled up her map and held her bow at the ready.

"Alright then, let's go find Elsword and then head toward the El. We might be able to make it by nightfall and catch them while they're asleep."

"Right." Aisha nodded and grabbed her wand and tied an El crystal around her wrist. The two headed out along the edge of the forest, following Elsword's muddy footprints along the way. A hundred yards out, the veil of light from the El scattered through the rocky mountainside faded and a stifling stillness filled the air. The ground was littered with withered plants and corpses, victims of the rapid suffocation that follows in the absence of El. After almost an hour of walking, concern turned into anxiety.

"God! How far did he go? He was supposed to come back after he took a look around us. And why'd he have to walk through such a creepy part of the forest?" Aisha hopped over the body of a boar, fresh as though it had died that morning. Despite it's excellent state of preservation, it was impossible to know when it's life ended for sure as the absence of El stopped all natural processes, even decay. Glancing around warily, Rena tried to look for any signs of a disturbance or struggle, but all that was evident were the footprints marching on toward the north.

"We should hurry... he might have figured out where the bandit's cave was and gone on by himself."

"No way, Elsword could never figure it out on his own. He's way too stupid and too-" A quiet rustling stopped Aisha in her tracks.

"Ai~sha," Rena bounced over to her side, "you should give him a chance, just because he's not... wait... Aisha, what's the matter."

Another rustling in the underbrush, in the middle of a forest devoid of El where nothing can live or breath. Slowly, Aisha drew her wand and walked around the blackened tree. As she rounded the corner, the rustling stopped and she discovered its source. At the base of the tree, a tiny white rodent quivered and shook against the peeling bark and withered leaves.

"Ah, that's it? Rena, it's just a baby phoru. What's it doing way out-" Then she noticed it. There was a small El stone hanging from a low branch. Rena came around to take a look for herself and saw it at just the same time. It wasn't just an El stone hanging on its own... rather, it was a pendant, hung from a chain and tangled on the branches. Aisha recognized it right away.

"!... It's Elsword's!"


	3. A Light in the Woods

A Light in the Woods

* * *

Racing through the tangled underbrush, Rena clutched a trembling phoru to her stomach as her eyes darted across forest floor. Deeper into the woods, Aisha rifled through dense bushes and searched for any sign of tracks, frantically teleporting from place to place as she scoured the ground. Despite their diligence, they found nothing. As she passed by the corpse of a wolf, a churning knot in Aisha's stomach made her wonder if she was even prepared to find Elsword out here in the silent morass of the breathless wood. With their anxiety building by the moment, Aisha and Rena rushed forward without pause, barreling past the lifeless trees until a sudden shock forced them to stop.

Rena was the first to notice the call of songbirds in the trees overhead.

"Aisha, wait."

Aisha turned abruptly and lost her balance, waving her arms around until she caught hold of a sapling and steadied herself. "What is- wait, there's El here... all over."

Rena knelt down and released the phoru, dusting her legs off as the rodent scurried away into the hollow of a rotting stump. "It looks like it started just a hundred yards back." She looked around and spotted an animal trail heading into the mountains nearby and started along it when she noticed that Aisha wasn't following. Rather, she stood staring back at the boundary between the El and the grey haze of stillness beyond, clutching the pendant they had found tangled in the trees. Rena sighed softly and headed back toward her.

"Aisha, I'm sure he's fine. He probably picked up a few more El stones along the way and just didn't notice he dropped one." Though she gave a confident assurance, Rena was biting the inside of her lip and her eyes kept drifting to the side.

"...huh?" Aisha took a moment to focus on Rena and register what she had said. "What? No, I wasn't worrying about him!" She began to pout. "Why do you always think I'm thinking about that stupid brat?"

"Because~ your reactions are always so cute." Rena giggled for just a moment before she returned her attentions to the situation at hand. "Come on, I'm sure he just went ahead to try and take care of things on his own. When we find him, he'll be perfectly fine and angry at us for taking so long." She put on a soft smile and waited for Aisha to follow her. The two wound around the mountainside for nearly an hour when the sun broke through the clouds, peeking out just in time to offer its last gasp of light before falling back behind the horizon. At a small clearing bounded by a mountain stream and a sheer cliff, the path branched off into four different directions. Sighing, Aisha propped herself up against an apple tree and studied the map, scanning it's smudged lines for any indication of which path might lead them to the area Rena had marked earlier. The air was crisp and saturated with El, giving them the least bit of hope that their search was not in vain and that, somehow, they might be able to return the stolen El before there were any more casualties.

Straining her eyes to see in the fading light, Aisha was making no real progress with the map when a fierce growl echoed through the treetops. Just as she turned to face the sound, a large creature leapt from the trees and bared its fangs at her. Panicking, Aisha thrust her wand forward and a burst of flame erupted from the air, knocking the creature into a rock where it lay until it slumped to the ground. Aisha approached cautiously as Rena hurried over, her bow drawn and leveled at messy tufts of red hair, a singed red cloak, a pair of muddied boots...

"Oh my god, Elsword, you're alive!" Aisha shouted loud enough to send the birds resting above into flight. When he failed to answer, she noticed the huge bump on his head and the burns scattered over his armor."Oh my god, I killed him..."

"N-No, I think he's fine..." Rena knelt down to check his pulse, though her tone was not nearly as confident as her words. Feeling a regular heartbeat, she sighed and relaxed for the first time since that afternoon. "We should get a fire going and rest here until he wakes up, He's still soaked from the rain, so the fire didn't do much more than knock him back, and his head's... well, I'm sure it'll be fine." Rena smiled awkwardly as hoisted Elsword off the ground and propped him up against a fallen log. In the middle of the clearing, somewhere between relief, guilt, and agitation, Aisha conjured up a campfire and started unpacking their supplies.

"Uuuuh..." Groggy and disoriented, Elsword awoke to the smell of cooked fish and firewood. Slouching forward, he shook his head from side to side until his eyes finally came into focus.

"Are you awake?" Rena grabbed a spit off of the fire and offered it to Elsword. He took the fish immediately and started carelessly gnawing on a fin. "Are you feeling any better?"

"Engrrph..." He took a moment to reposition his mouth and took a chunk out of the fish's side, swallowing quickly and spitting out the bones. "Where are we? What happened to the bandits I ambushed?"

Rena's laughter nearly drowned out the crackling campfire. "We're right where you'd set up your 'ambush'. Unfortunately it must've been too dark for you to tell, but instead of a bandit, you attacked the most ferocious creature in the forest."

His eyes went wide. "What? That tiny monkey-sized thing? Where is it? Did you guys chase it off?"

"No..." Rena grinned, "She went back down the trail to check something out a few minutes ago, see?" She pointed to the sky just above the tree line where a small fireball hovered about a hundred yards away.

"Wait, what about-" Elsword hacked and coughed, nearly choking on a lump of meat and scales once he realized what had happened. Clearing his throat, he glowered and scoffed at the fire. "Who the hell-" He paused to correct himself, "Who goes around blasting people with huge fireballs like that?"

"Well, you have a point there." Rena gazed toward the fireball floating in the sky, "But, think about what you would've done if somebody suddenly jumped down from a tree and attacked you... Wouldn't you do the same thing?"

Elsword looked to her skeptically, "No, I don't throw fire and lightning bolts at people."

Rena laughed awkwardly as she pulled a pouch of berries from her bandolier and popped a few into her mouth. Starting in on his second fish, Elsword glanced around the camp and then looked to Rena. "I thought you were a vegetarian. "

"Yes, I am." Rena started chewing on what looked to be a purple root topped with silky green leaves.

"Then... vegetarians eat fish?" He pondered for a moment, wondering if fish were somehow excluded from the field of meats, or if they were secretly some kind of fruit. Rena laughed off his inquiry and leaned back on her hands.

"I wonder who caught them then..."

"It definitely wasn't her." Elsword spoke with a cheek full of fish, "There's no way she'd be able to get her hands dirty enough to hunt."

Stretching her arms out over her head, Rena sat forward and turned toward her companion. "That doesn't leave many other options, unless you think you caught them in your sleep."

Elsword stayed quiet but kept his skeptical frown.

"You shouldn't doubt her so much. It takes a lot of time to tell what people are really capable of, but if you keep thinking that other people can't do anything right, you'll never be able to trust them with anything important." Rena's eyes went soft and she breathed in slowly. "We're responsible for one another's lives every time we fight so we need to trust each other to protect one another. You're both still so young, but... I don't think the trust I have in the two of you is misplaced."

"I-" Elsword paused. His mouth wrinkled up and he glanced out away from the campfire, struggling for words and sense that could match Rena's. "I can take care of myself, so you don't need to worry about protecting me. If I can't do that, then what point is there in being a knight?"

"Elsword, that's not-"

"Ah!" From the far side of the clearing, Aisha stood and pointed at Elsword, the fireball floating high above her vanishing as she stepped into the open. He was less than enthusiastic to see her return, though that didn't stop her from storming over and pushing her fist right in front of his face. From her hand dangled Elsword's pendant, shining faintly and swinging in the breeze. It took him a moment to realize exactly what was hanging right in front of his face.

"Wait, is that..." Elsword patted his neck and chest, "Why'd you take it off me?"

"Nobody took it off you! We found it laying in the forest and we thought you were dead!"

"Huh? Oh, I guess I lost it when I got tangled in the thorn bush... or when my boot got stuck in the mud." He reached up to take his pendant back and found that Aisha had a firm grip on it. He tugged again, and after a moment of fierce resistance, Aisha let go and sat on the opposite side of the campfire. He glared over the fire and then turned to Rena. "Why'd you think I was dead?"

"For one, there was no El for almost a half mile around where we found it." Rena's voice was calm and evenly measured as she moderated their bickering. It would be a substantial task for her, as Aisha's accusatory stare was met with abject confusion on Elsword's part.

"I guess I didn't notice it fell off."

Aisha lost her balance and nearly fell over. "How could you not notice that! Are you so stupid you just walked the entire way without realizing you couldn't breath?"

"What are you talking about?" Elsword angrily chomped down on the last scrap of his fish while Aisha started on hers. "There was El all around there."

"There's no way that-" Aisha's mouth dropped and Rena stood up swiftly. The two of them frantically packed up their supplies and doused the fire. In the midst of their bustling, Aisha stopped and turned to Elsword who was still sitting and staring at them.

"Don't just sit there, hurry up and get your stuff together!"

Elsword tossed the bones of his meal into the embers. "What for?"

"Do you feel like you can start running?" Rena offered a hand to help him up. "We need to head out right away. They're moving the El."


	4. An Echo's Answer

An Echo's Answer

* * *

Cutting through the chill night air, a stream of silver glistened as it painted the dripping teeth of a mountain cave. Rainwater from the afternoon storm collected in every hollow and crevice it could find, each tiny pool and puddle a faint portrait of the moon wrapped in mist. Guarded steps fell across the slick surface of the cave floor and soon their echoes were swallowed up by the veil of pitch and shadow. As a soft breeze ventured into the cavern depths, a swirling flame sprouted in the air and splashed the walls with a flickering golden glow.

Aisha held the fire in hand, keeping a close reign on its light as she led the way through the bandit's cave. After running through the mountain trails for the better part of the night, Rena had finally picked up on a fresh set of footprints that hadn't been washed away by the storm. Though they gave little indication of where the El might be, the tracks did lead down into the mouth of a massive cavern that lay just within the bounds of the area Rena had pegged as the El's location. While Elsword was more than ready to storm the bandit's lair and beat information out of anyone inside, Aisha was not entirely convinced that they should even be there.

"What does it matter if the El was here hours ago? They're already moving it somewhere else."

"Tch..." Elsword scoffed as he swatted a bat away from his hair. "Stop whining so much. We'll take down the bandit leader and he'll tell us where they took the El, and then we'll take it back."

The flame in Aisha's hand growled and spit as she turned back and shot Elsword a stern glare. "And what if they've already loaded it up and shipped it off to the other side of the world?"

"So?" Elsword shrugged and carried on past Aisha, "We'll still chase them down and get it back."

"You- do you have any idea how stupid that-" A sudden, frightful sound and image froze them both in place.

"Bllarrggghhh~!" Popping up between the two, Rena pulled her lips back and stuck her tongue out, making her look more than a bit otherworldly as the light of the flame fell across her face. Though they both recognized her immediately, Elsword and Aisha both backed against the cave wall and stared on in horror. With the two now silent and standing shoulder to shoulder, Rena resumed her cheery smile and nodded. "Now, remember what we talked about. No fighting with each other when we're sneaking around dangerous caves, right?"

Aisha and Elsword nodded, more shocked than afraid though still somewhat unnerved. Rena motioned for them to continue and Aisha took the lead with a steady flame in hand. Bringing up the rear, Rena softened her voice to a near whisper as the cavern narrowed.

"This time, you're both right though... If they get the El onto a ship and carry it across the sea, we may not be able to get it back on our own and it could be years before we have a chance to retrieve it. At the same time, we don't know where they're taking it, and we can only tell which direction they're headed if we stay miles away from them at the edge of the El's light and watch how it recedes."

Aisha closed her eyes a moment and sighed. "So, we gamble on being able to find out where they're headed so that we can cut them off."

"Yup." Rena tilted her head and gave Aisha a thumbs up, "At least, if this works out for us, it'll be the quickest way to get the El back, and that means the least amount of suffering for the villagers."

Between them, Elsword glanced back and forth, struggling to hide his confusion at their exchange.

"What are you talking about? We're here to beat up the bandit leader, and then he'll get his lackeys to put the El back, that's the easiest way to fix everything."

Behind him, Rena chuckled awkwardly while in front, Aisha was mortified.

"You... can't honestly think that plan could ever work in the real world. Why would the bandit leader even be here if the El isn't here anymore?" She glanced back at him and opened her mouth to issue another insult when Rena's broad, ominous smile appeared behind him. Turning forward, Aisha walked on and held her tongue. As they rounded a sharp corner, the cavern opened up into a vast chamber filled with light. Torches lit the surface of a shimmering pool that poured out into an underground stream, its source a steady shower of melted snow from a crack in the ceiling leading to the mountain above. The remnants of scaffolding and makeshift beds littered the ground, evidence that there had indeed been a great number of bandits here recently. At the back of the chamber, a massive pile of gold coins, weapons, and gold trinkets gleamed in the torchlight, absent any guardian or keeper. Seeing that the chamber was clear of its previous tenants, Elsword rushed over to the pile of treasure with Aisha and Rena following close behind.

"Where'd they even steal all this?" Aisha sifted through handfuls of gold coins and ingots, all stamped with the seal of Lord Wally, the regent of Elder. Next to her, Elsword furiously dug through the pile as though he thought he might find the El still buried beneath it all. Moving alongside them and drawing her bow, Rena looked over the area for any sign of large animals, yokes, spare wagon wheels. Their apparent scarcity troubled her.

"There's something wrong here..." Rena moved back and kept her eyes focused on the chamber entrance, "How did they take the El from the village in the first place?"

Elsword grumbled and kicked a pile of statuettes over. "Lowe said they pushed it off the tree and then got it onto a wagon with a lotta horses and just rode off. Why's it matter now?"

"Because we haven't found any sign of horses or a wagon since yesterday morning. Why did they take it off the wagon, and what could they do with it then? It weighs more than a house." Rena turned the matter over in her head, trying to make sense of it.

"Maybe they have mages with them?" Aisha turned away from the treasure hoard and pondered. "Wait, that still doesn't make sense... they had a good way to carry it, but instead they unloaded it and carried it into the mountains... there weren't any patrols on the highway to avoid, so why did they bother coming here just to leave again?"

Elsword stomped down through a mess of gold and steel as he grimaced. "What's that matter? There's nobody here! We gotta get out of here and chase after the El!"

"Elsword, wait! We need to think about this first!" Rena hurried after him but he had already reached the exit and was about to head around the corner, grabbing a torch and heading off into the dark. After two paces, he was sent flying backward, landing hard on his side.

A huge brutish man filled the chamber's narrow entrance, a scarred eye and a huge, tasteless gold necklace hanging among filthy, mismatched linen tunics clearly marking him as a bandit. Behind him, a dozen other similarly disreputable men and women tumbled out into the open.

"Boss, move it! What the hell's-"

Before the unfortunate bandit could finish, three arrows knocked him to the floor. Those remaining took to cover while their leader unwrapped a giant cutlass and held it flat, shielding himself from Rena's barrage. He leapt forward and made a broad swing down at Elsword who was just getting back to his feet. Raising his sword, Elsword blocked hastily and his knees shook from the force bearing down on him. The bandit leader grinned viciously and pressed harder, using his size and the weight of his blade to force his opponent to the ground. He laughed and drew a leg back, preparing for a strong kick when he was smacked squarely in the face with a wand and forced back by a burst of flame. Rolling back, the leader of the bandits covered himself at the entrance to the chamber while Rena kept him and his comrades in place with a stream of arrows. An obnoxious young bandit began shouting from around the corner,

"Damn it! Banthus, What the hell do you want us to do now!"

The bandit leader chuckled and turned to his followers. "Ain't that obvious? Kill 'em all and take their cash!" At his order, the bandits rushed inside the chamber. Two fell to the ground almost immediately as arrows pierced their shoulders and toppled them over. While Banthus rushed for Elsword, the bulk of the bandits headed to Rena who was now leaping across the pile of gold, dodging spears and clubs as she loosed as many arrows as she could manage. Jumping back, she barely avoided the cutting edge of a hatchet but as she landed, the unsteady mound of gold below her gave way. She slid to the ground and was quickly surrounded by the remaining nine bandits. Rena hooked her bow to her belt and shifted into a defensive stance.

"Okay~ Do you guys mind charging in one or two at a time?"

In response, the bandits shouted and rushed toward her all at once. Once they neared, Rena leapt high into the air, planting her feet on a bandit's head and then bounding off onto the solid ground below. As the rest of the mob headed toward her, a bright light flashed and Aisha appeared in their midst. She spun her wand in a tight circle and a wave of fire and wind swept the bandits off of their feet and through the air. Rena took her bow in hand and started after everyone that tried to get back up.

"Thanks!" She smiled at Aisha as she drew back an arrow.

Aisha grinned proudly. "Now I just have to help the stubborn one over there."

On the far side of the chamber, Banthus pulled back and thrust his fist forward, missing Elsword by inches as he ducked low and swept the ground with his blade only to be blocked by Banthus's cutlass. Their swords clashed and echoed loudly as they each darted back and forth, looking for an opening and finding only a solid defense.

"You're pretty good, punk. What's your name?"

Elsword scoffed and glared, "Elsword, and you suck old man. How long are you gonna take to land a hit on a little kid?"

"You punk bastard!" Banthus raised his cutlass and brought it down hard. Elsword held his ground and blocked, holding his blade at an angle and throwing Banthus off balance as his cutlass plowed into solid rock off to his right. Three steps, and Elsword was at his side. Firm grip, low stance, eyes straight. The lessons he'd been drilled on since before he could even hold a weapon rang through his head as he sliced through the air and struck his adversary in the back of the knees. As Banthus lost his balance and staggered forward, another blow landed across his back. Three. Four. Elsword shifted his hands just the way he'd practiced, turning his body after an upward stroke and using gravity to bring the blade down again. Seven. He couldn't waste time thinking, but he didn't have to; the fluid motion of his hands and feet carried on without pause. It was what he'd done almost all his life, and what his sister had trained for going back to the furthest reaches of his memory.

Breathing heavily, Elsword dug his feet into the cave floor and looked around for the next enemy. In front of him, the leader of the bandits lay face down, his shoddy leather armor rent beyond repair and covered in blood. In the distance, Rena had just finished kicking the last of the straggling bandits unconscious and restraining them with a long golden chain from the treasure hoard. Nearby, Aisha stood blinking, frozen in the midst of a long incantation when her target fell unexpected. Once the tension of the battle had passed, she regained her composure and turned to the panting Elsword.

"Are you okay?" She ran over to him, nearly slipping on the slick rock but righting herself by the time she was at his side.

"Yeah... I'm fine." Lifting his sword to his back, Elsword steadied his breathing and started to strap his weapon in when a sharp pain shot through his left thumb. Aisha noticed the gash on his hand immediately and grabbed hold of it.

"You've got a huge cut, hold still a minute."

He jerked his hand away as a trickle of blood dripped onto the ground "Leave it alone. It's from this morning, it's fine."

"It's not fine! If it reopened then it's not gonna heal on its own. Let me wrap it up or it'll just get worse." She reached for his hand again and he pulled it away, though too slowly. Glowering, blushing, and looking as far away as he could, Elsword surrendered his hand and Aisha got to work bandaging his wounds. By the water's edge, Rena looked on and laughed to herself.

"Well, it's a start..." She washed the dirt and blood from her arm and covered her cuts with a thick green balm. Stealing glances at her younger companions, she concealed a devious grin. "I'll have to remember to tease them both about this later."


	5. Turning over Stones

Turning over Stones

* * *

"Alright, off to the stocks with this lot then!" A garish knight captain smacked Banthus on the back as the town guard escorted a row of bandits to Elder castle. Stark shadows falling across his face from the guards' torches as Banthus snarled, spit, and struggled against the chains on his hands and legs.

"Hey! Lay off! We're all still bleedin' all over! You tryin' to kill us?"

The guards glanced over the weary, ragged bandits. Blood wasn't so prominent on their skin and clothes as were ash and scorch marks. The knight captain grabbed the nearest bandit's jaw and tilted her head up and to the side, assessing the extent of her injuries.

"Fine, see that they get patched up enough to make it through the night. It'd be a hazard to public health if we let them rot right in Lord Wally's courtyard." At his signal, the town guard dragged Banthus and his underlings off. "Now how the hell did they get so mangled and burnt..."

Standing nearby, Aisha forced a smile and laughed awkwardly. "Aha... well, they tried to escape a few times, but then they kept running into these forest fires..." Next to her, Rena and Elsword confirmed her testimony with a serious nod.

"Very well then... thank you for your service to our kingdom, and enjoy your stay in Elder. Good evening to you." The knight captain tipped his helmet and headed off to the castle, leaving Rena, Aisha, and Elsword to address the matter of sleep. Save for the hour Elsword lay unconscious in the mountains, none of them had managed more than four hours rest in the past two days and they were all anxious to find a soft bed for the night. The first two inns they tried turned out to be full up and out of food for the night, occupied by villagers from the south who fled after the El was taken. Their next stop proved more accommodating, though everyone but the barkeep had long since gone off to bed. Struggling to stay awake herself, the barkeep reached onto the wall behind her and handed Rena the key to the only open room.

"You can pay in the morning, after breakfast. It's got just two beds, is that alright?"

Rena nodded and smiled wearily. "Yeah, that'll be fine." She turned and led the way upstairs, pausing to corral a half-conscious Elsword and catching Aisha as she tripped on the top step. Once inside, Elsword immediately headed over to the far end of the room and started shedding his armor and travel clothes. Aisha immediately recoiled in shock.

"Elsword, what are you doing! Don't just start stripping in front of a lady!"

Blinking and rubbing his eyes, Elsword took his hands off of his belt and looked up through his heavy eyelids. "Oh, right... sorry Rena..."

Before Aisha could storm over to the other side of the room and hurl Elsword through a closed window, Rena grabbed her shoulder and pulled her backward for a sudden embrace.

"Ai~sha." She hummed as she held her captive, "Wanna share a bed? Otherwise, one of us will have to sleep on the floor."

Aisha blushed indignantly. The shock of sudden contact was enough to calm her down and though she was still annoyed, she had long sense spent any energy she might use to argue. "I guess so..."

"Good." Rena released her and walked around to the middle of the room, pulling a warped wooden screen out and separating the two halves of the room. "We should get as much sleep as we can, since we've got to get up early tomorrow."

From the other side of the screen, Elsword mumbled a hasty "G'night." and turned in as Aisha and Rena removed their travel gear. Climbing into bed, they all settled into the comfort of warm blankets and the calm of the slumbering city, quickly falling into a restful sleep.

* * *

Light poured in through the slotted blinds of the window above Elsword's bed, dancing over rumpled sheets and peering over the low screen that divided the room until it finally fell across Rena's brow. She tossed her head once and then opened her eyes, stretching her arms overhead as she beamed back at the sun. Beside her lay a twisted up pillow and a mess of ruffled sheets, their previous tenant already gone. Hopping out of bed, Rena peeked around the room divider and saw Elsword's bed in a similar condition.

"I was the last one to wake up?" She sunk to the floor, her bright smile fading. "How could that happen? And they didn't even wake me up?" Sighing, she mourned the loss of the opportunities to tease Elsword and Aisha while they slept and dressed herself for breakfast. As she entered the dining hall, she couldn't help but laugh and quickly covered her mouth. Sitting on opposite sides of a small square table, Aisha and Elsword furiously devoured huge plates of potatoes covered in goat's cheese, fried eggs, and warm buttered bread, all the while avoiding eye contact with one another. Rena rounded the bottom of the staircase and headed over, putting in an order for a salad and toast on the way. Gathering up her food, she headed over to her comrades, both of whom were still waging a fierce battle against potatoes and eggs.

"Good Morning." Rena sat down and glanced at her company. Aisha scooped up a mouthful of potatoes and topped it off with a hunk of warm bread, swallowing and washing it all down with cold milk. She turned to Rena and wiped her mouth, smiling,

"Good Mornim-" Aisha took another gulp and finished off the rest of the food in her mouth. "Good Morning. Did you sleep okay?"

"Yup. What about you two?"

Elsword downed half his glass of ice water and polished off the last of his bread. "Yeah, but I woke up hungry..." He looked as though he had another thought to contribute, but his fork moved half an egg to his mouth and he quickly lost interest in talking. Aisha, too, had returned to her meal and was already nearly finished with her previously daunting pile of potatoes. Amused, Rena left them to their food and started in on her own while making note of their strikingly similar eating habits. After another half serving for everyone, Rena paid the innkeeper and they all gathered their things and headed out into the town square.

The air was crisp and frigid, frosting windows and freezing the ground. Donning their heavy cloaks, Elsword, Aisha, and Rena headed to the market where they split up, asking every merchant they could find about the El, the bandits, and anything else that might help in their search. Despite capturing Banthus and a handful of his underlings, they had learned very little other than that they had spent the evening fighting, defeating, and escorting the most uncooperative and secretive band of criminals in the kingdom. Not only were they unable to find out where the El had been taken, they were denied any reason or explanation as to why the thieves would have wanted to take it in the first place. With the light of Ruben's El vanishing amid the light of Elder's much larger crystal, they had no way of even knowing which direction it was taken.

Scouring the marketplace for an open vendor, Elsword milled about the empty stalls and locked storefronts until the heavy click of a key turning drew him to the door of a jeweler's shop. Peeking outside into the cold, the proprietress shivered and clutched her shoulders.

"Are you open now?" Elsword stood back from the door as his breath clouded the frozen air.

"Oh, yes, of course! Come on in." Holding the door open, the owner motioned him inside and they retreated from the brisk market square. Inside, rows of slowly spinning pendants hung from long chains reaching up into the ceiling and rings decorated the polished knots of small stumps and saplings. Metals glistened and stone shined faintly in the firelight as the shop's owner sized Elsword up.

"Well! We've never had anyone this young in to buy a wedding ring." She smirked as she stepped behind the counter.

"I'm not-!" Realizing he was just being teased, Elsword calmed himself and tried to ignore the insinuation. "I'm not here for jewelry."

"Oh?" The proprietress tossed a dry log onto a roaring fireplace in the center of the shop and it crackled and hissed. "Then how can I help you, young man?"

Elsword thought for a moment. "Has there been anything weird happening lately? Like, somebody moving something really big through town late last night?"

"I don't... think so..." She paused and pondered. "The only really big stuff you see being moved around here are all of Lord Wally's statues. He must really think he's being generous by letting us stare at his giant marble bald spot all day." She pointed out through a side window to a towering statue of a aging man with his arms outstretched and his eyes raised to the horizon. On his way through town, Elsword had noticed a half dozen of these statues, all of different sizes and all contorted into a different pose.

"Geh. How many of these things have they built for this guy?"

The owner chuckled lightly. "Oh, no, they weren't built for him... Lord Wally commissioned them himself."

Elsword's mouth turned down in disgust and he turned away from the window. "That's the stupidest, ugliest thing I've ever seen."

Bursting into laughter, the owner nodded in agreement. "It really is, but most people don't mind it too much. Lord Wally has been pretty good to us lately, despite all the problems he's caused us in the past. He's dropped our taxes to nothing and forgiven all debts to his estate, and we're all doing really well because of it."

Elsword looked up at her, confused. "What? Why? How's he get all the money for these stupid statues if he isn't taking it from the people in town?"

The shop owner shrugged. "I couldn't tell you. Maybe he carves all of them himself. It's hard to say what goes on in the castle since only his knights are allowed inside... Now..." She leaned over the counter and brought herself down to Elsword's eye level, "Tell me, why are you so interested in all this, and what's it got to do with big things getting moved around at night?"

* * *

Down an alley and up the road a hundred yards, Aisha shielded her face from the heat of an open forge as a blacksmith pounded out a pair of shears.

"Eh? What'd you say?" He cocked his head to the side, straining to hear Aisha over the growling fire behind him.

"Has there been any change in the El around the city lately!" As she shouted, a spark flew up onto her collar and she frantically swatted it away.

Striking in between their sentences, the blacksmith hammered out the flat of the shears before responding. "Hmm... Like what?"

Aisha opened her mouth to respond but was cut off by the rhythmic impact of hammer and anvil. She waited for an opening and rushed to fit all of her words into the brief silence. "Has the boundary of light from the El around town gotten any bigger or changed shape or has there been a lot of El passing through here in the last day or so?"

"I can't say that-" Iron pounded against steel, "I really know what you're gettin' at."

Aisha braced herself. "Has any more-" A shrill echo rang through her ears as hammer and anvil met again. "Has any more of the air around town suddenly become breathable?"

"Ah..." The smith put down his hammer and quenched the red hot shears in the reservoir next to him. "Yeah, actually. Don't know if it's what you're talkin' about or anything, but the farrier that lives just outside of town with all his horses came in before you this morning, said he suddenly had another acre of grazing land open for whenever spring got here."

Aisha stopped to think, confused about what she'd just heard. "So, it wasn't moving or anything? There was just suddenly more El all around?"

"Yep. That's what I heard anyway..." He turned and fed the fire with a few breaths from his bellows. "Now, I answered your questions little lady. Are you gonna buy these scissors or not?"

Smiling awkwardly, Aisha dug into her coin pouch and handed over a small stack of copper, walking off into the market and regretting her promise to buy something in exchange for information. Wrapping her new, slightly warm shears in cloth and placing them at the bottom of her pack, she headed over the fountain at the center of the market square where Elsword was already waiting.

* * *

"Hi there, excuse me... is anyone in yet?" Rena poked her head inside a large oak door and searched for a shopkeeper. The clattering of silverware rang out from a back room and soon a haggard voice was calling out to her.

"Yes, yes! Just a moment..." A balding man emerged from the depths of the shop and greeted Rena with a bow and a warm smile. "Good morning. I'm Hoffman, pleased to meet you... what can I do for you today?"

"You're the head of the Merchant's association, right?" Rena stepped inside and shut the door behind her, brushing the cold from her arms. "The alchemist on the west side of the square told me that you'd be able to help me out. The El stone that was supporting all the villages in the southern forest was stolen four days ago, and we lost track of it near Elder."

Hoffman nodded and his eyes sank. "Yes... I've heard about that from dozens of refugees now. Tell me, what of Ruben village? I've heard no word from them and I thought chief Hagus would be the first to contact me..."

"They're all safe, so far. We lost seven when the El was taken, but everyone there is surviving, for now. Chief Hagus sent us out to find the El, but so far we've only seen traces of it from a distance."

"Ah... good..." Hoffman sighed and relaxed as though a boulder were just lifted from his back. "And when you say 'us', you mean that the knights training in Ruben have all come with you to retrieve the El?"

Rena shook her head. "No... there's only three of us here in Elder, and most of the dead were those out training when the El was taken."

Hoffman gave another heavy sigh. "I see... Well, I'll tell you everything I can, but if you have been following the El then I doubt it's anything you don't already know. A merchant making her way into town late last evening claimed that there was a great concentration of El outside of town and all around the road, so it seems that Ruben's El came close to the city or went through it... but no one saw anything of the sort throughout the night. Aside from that and the reports from refugees, I've heard nothing at all."

Confused, Rena probed the matter further. "What do you mean? Have the other merchants been keeping quiet for some reason?"

"Oh, no, no that's not what I meant, although none of us in town have seen or heard anything useful in the first place. No, I was referring to Lord Wally's castle. The castle usually puts in a variety of orders to dozens of different merchants each week and I broker most of those transactions, but ever since Wally abolished our taxes, there's been nothing ordered, not even food or oil for the lamps. We simply can't get word through to the castle, the knights all turn us away without explanation."

"He... he isn't collecting taxes?" Rena pondered the implications and nodded to herself. "That sounds admirable. We don't really have any sort of taxes where I come from, though we do all have to pitch in to fix the roads and walls and things like that."

Hoffman laughed wryly. "Oh, if only it were that simple. Lord Wally isn't really a generous soul, he's just desperate. Around half a year ago, there was talk of a coup and many of the townsfolk were preparing to storm the castle and throw him off the highest cliff we could find. That's when he abolished the tax on imported goods and all the other taxes followed soon after. Everyone settled down for a while, but only a few of us really think that he's turned over a new leaf."

Rena brushed her cloak aside and folded her arms. "Why is Lord Wally so unpopular?"

"Well..." Hoffman clasped his hands together. " I could list a hundred reasons, all of which are merely straws on the camel's back, but there was one incident that stood out. You see, lately, Lord Wally has been obsessed with nasod technology. He's even gotten his hands on a few and paraded them around town."

"Actual nasod?" Rena blinked. "He has actual nasod?"

"Well, I don't know if they're the sort I heard about in stories as a kid, but they're huge mechanical beasts that walk and move all on their own. I'm not sure what they are inside, but they're definitely dangerous." Looking around, he motioned for Rena to follow him into the back of the shop, a tiny room with a table and a stove. He poured a cup of hot tea and offered it to Rena before continuing. "The incident I was talking about, it was when Wally's nasod were on display in the middle of town. A few children ran up and started playing with them and the machines suddenly attacked. One girl got her leg broken and several others were badly bruised, but the worst of it was when their parents stepped up to fight back. Lord Wally had them arrested and thrown in prison for nearly a month. He even shouted at the children for damaging the 'future of the kingdom'. After that, not many people were willing to put up with all the small problems anymore."

Rena sipped the warm tea and turned over Hoffman's stories in her mind. While the city's leadership was troubling, hearing about Lord Wally's eccentricities weren't helping her find the El. She waited in silence for a moment and then returned to the topic that brought her here. "What about ships and caravans? Have you heard of any getting ready for long journeys or carrying heavy cargo?"

"No, I don't think..." Hoffman scratched his head and then pulled a ledger off of his wall. "No, no one's stocked up enough for anything big. The largest we have out of this town in the winter are a few small skiffs out for fishing, and the lot of them together could barely support ten men, let alone an El crystal as large as the one you're looking for."

Closing her eyes and finishing off her tea, Rena nodded to Hoffman and returned her cup. "Thanks. Let me know if you hear anything else."

"Of course. I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help, but if we knew where the El was, I'm sure we'd have a small battalion of refugees ready to take it back."

Rena smiled and waved on her way out, leaving Hoffman's weary eyes and heavy sigh in the warmth of his empty shop. She headed back to the center of the market square where she spotted Elsword and Aisha bickering once again. As she made her way toward them, a subtle sense of dread fell over her. Standing in the biting winter breeze, she suddenly realized that recovering the El might be more dangerous and more difficult than they ever expected. Collecting herself, she silenced her doubts and put on a warm smile before returning to her companions.


	6. Revolution's Eve

Revolution's Eve

Faint sunlight filtered through a blanket of silken grey haze gathering overhead, shimmering along the restless surface of the fountain at the center of Elder's market square. As the city's populace spilled out of their homes and into the streets, the early morning's calm broke into the steady din of chatter and footsteps. Shivering, Aisha pulled her cloak around her shoulders and headed over to the fountain where Elsword stood waiting. Once she was standing next to him, a frigid gust swept their cloaks aside and stung their skin.

"Did you find out anything?" Aisha's words froze in the air as the wind carried away the fog of her breath. Elsword nodded.

"Yeah... I found out that Lord Wally's a pretentious moron."

Aisha stifled a laugh and turned away as Elsword glared toward her. "...Are you okay? It sounds like you just choked on a ball of snot"

"Ugh..." Aisha was less than charmed by his imagery and her amusement faded. "No, I'm fine... It sounds like the field of El around the city has grown, so Ruben's El might still be here, somewhere. It'd be nice if we had some kind of idea where it might be though..."

Elsword sniffled, his eyes lighting up faintly. "Then when Rena gets back you two should go look for it. I'm gonna go see if I can get anything else out of the bandits we caught."

"What? We already tried getting answers from them but none of them would talk to us. And why do you have to do that alone? We're not helpless or stupid." Aisha scowled and fumed as the season's first snowflakes melted on her furrowed brow. Reflecting her frustration, Elsword shot her a stare colder than the air around them.

"I didn't ask you two to come along in the first place. I'm a knight, and I can do this on my own, without a stubborn runt calling me stupid every time I get an idea."

"I only yell at you because you're always rude and obstinate and going off to do something stupid and reckless!" The two were beginning to attract the attention of those passing by and the central fountain was suddenly being given a rather wide berth. Elsword stared indignantly at Aisha's disapproving eyes.

"So? Why do you care what I do?"

Aisha opened her mouth but couldn't find the words to answer him. Standing her ground, she collected herself and slapped her hand down onto the cold granite beside her. "Because you're not the only one who has to deal with the consequences! Every time you rush off on your own, we could all get killed and you don't even care!"

"What are you talking about? When were we ever in serious-" Elsword stopped and jerked his head to the left. Aisha followed his gaze to a dark side street, over a heap of broken apple crates, past a shady tavern signboard, and beside a crooked lamppost where she saw an unmistakable face. Banthus walked out into the street and rolled an apple in his hand before taking a huge bite out of its side and turning down a side alley. The clatter of Elsword's feet on the ground rang out in an instant, leaving Aisha to rush after him.

"Elsword, wait!" Her plea did little to hinder him. Glancing back over his shoulder, Elsword called back as he wove through a crowd of merchants and shoppers.

"We can't wait, he's gonna get away!" Leaping over a pile of flour sacks, he tossed his cloak into the air and reached for his sword. Just as he rounded the corner to follow after the fugitive, Aisha appeared before him in a flash of light and grabbed his shoulder.

"Elsword, listen for a second!"

He struggled to break free of her grip. "No! He's escaped already and if we don't hurry, he'll get away!"

Aisha stared straight at him and nodded. "So let's follow him. He might be trying to get back to the El." She held out her hand and offered Elsword his cloak. He reached forward and accepted it, nodding back as they both darted off after Banthus. Peering around corners and hiding among street vendors, they followed the fugitive through a raucous row of money changers as he casually strolled through the gentle snowfall. Turning away from the busy streets of the marketplace, Banthus paused, glancing around himself cautiously before darting off to the outer wall of Lord Wally's castle. From the cover of one of Lord Wally's gaudiest statues, Elsword and Aisha huddled close together and watched as Banthus approached a heavy gate and rattled its bars. After a moment, a guard approached and raised the portcullis.

"Did anyone see you?"

"Nah." Banthus sneered. "Nobody that'd care."

The knight stepped out and looked around, "Fine. Get back inside and wait with everyone else."

As Elsword looked on, his eyes narrowed and he reached for his sword. "What the hell, they're just gonna let him walk around without-" A firm hand on his shoulder pulled his attention away from the castle gates, "Aisha, let go!"

"I'm not-" Aisha soon noticed the presence of a third person just behind them.

"I didn't expect you two to go off eloping already, but..." A warm, lyrical voice drifted over their shoulders and they both turned to meet its owner. "Next time, leave a note though, okay?" Rena grinned as she met their shocked and blushing faces.

"It's not- we weren't running off. We saw Banthus walking around and we followed him back to the castle." Aisha stood and took two steps away from Elsword as she brushed the snow from her cloak.

"I saw." Rena looked past them to the castle walls and then motioned for them to follow her. "Come on, we've got a lot to talk about." Settling down beneath the gnarled fingers of a bare oak tree, the three recounted all that they learned from their morning excursions. Upon hearing about Elsword's plan to interrogate the bandits, Rena tilted her head and blinked.

"Why did you want to do that? I don't think they'd be any more willing to talk now than when we caught them in the first place."

Elsword crossed his arms and stared at the bulging root beneath his feet. "It's cause of what the Lady at the jewelry shop told me. She said she used to run with those bandits, and they were always doing really small, pointless stuff and she didn't think they were smart enough to try and pull anything as big as taking the El. They must've been hired by somebody."

Aisha placed a finger to her cheek, pondering for a moment as she pieced everything together. "Then, if it was Lord Wally that hired the bandits, that's why Banthus was allowed to just roam around town. And if he's got a lot of really big Nasod, they could've carried the El here without using the main roads."

"That's what it looks like right now..." Rena leaned back against the frost covered oak as she turned over their options. First, they'd need to confirm that Lord Wally had the El, and then... "The three of us won't be enough to take on all of Wally's knights and his Nasod, and we can't steal the El back since we've got no way of carrying it..."

Elsword grimaced. "What's that matter? We can figure that out after we get the El back."

"But we don't even know if Lord Wally has the El yet." Rena tried to pacify him, but his eyes were already fixed on the castle keep behind them.

"It m-might..." Aisha fought the clattering of her teeth and pulled her cloak in around her, "It might actually work out... It _is_ the stupidest thing ever, but... Y-You said that the people here weren't happy with Lord Wally, so maybe if we got p-proof that he stole the El, they'd help us out."

Rena smiled uncomfortably at her. "Provoking a revolution might be a bit extreme..." She sighed quietly to herself, convinced that she had never traveled with anyone so blithely willing to undertake the most unreasonable course of action as these two teenagers. At first, she had thought that it was merely Elsword's intense, reckless desire to retrieve the El and prove himself capable that kept them headed into implausible situations, but now Rena realized that it was actually a condition they all shared. They set out to track down a group of nearly a hundred bandits who stole a crystal weighing several tons and no plan whatsoever other than that they had to get the El back.

Rena's eyes softened and she laughed faintly to herself. "In this situation, though... we probably need to be a bit extreme." She pushed herself off of the tree and turned to the towering cliffs of stacked granite beside her. At her right, Aisha looked to her pensively, awaiting her decision. At her left, Elsword glared firmly and clenched his teeth together. Closing her eyes and dismissing her doubts, a keen grin spread across Rena's face. "I wonder if Lord Wally has just as many statues of himself on the inside of his castle... I guess there's only one way to find out."


	7. Pristine Snow

Pristine Snow

* * *

As afternoon waned into early evening and the sun's scattered beams faded among thick, silken clouds, Aisha hurried out of town and left a faint trail in the gathering snow. The stone of the city streets faded into rough gravel and finally gave way to the frosted grass of the wood around Wally's castle where Elsword waiting impatiently.

"Are you ready yet?"

Aisha tightened her belt and nodded, stifling a scowl as she readied her wand. "Once Rena's done talking to the head of the merchants and the other important people in town, she'll be waiting on the far wall for us. You'll have to hold onto me so I can take us both inside" She was less than thrilled at the prospect and Elsword could tell, glowering as he grabbed her elbow.

"I got it. Just hurry up or it'll be dark soon." Elsword stared up at the sky that held, at the most, another hour of daylight. Chanting under her breath, Aisha swung her wand down sharply and they both disappeared in bright flash.

Atop the wall of Lord Wally's castle, Aisha popped out of the air and floated gently to the smooth stone floor below. Flailing his arms, Elsword appeared next to her and tumbled face first into a snowy slab of granite.

"I told you to hold on!" Aisha reached down to pick him up as he turned to glare at her angrily. He opened his mouth to argue when a deafening screech filled the air. In the courtyard below, a mass of steel creaked and groaned as a towering nasod marched from the gatehouse to the keep, sinking its broad feet into the soil with each step.

"That's... a nasod?" Aisha whispered into the breeze. "I thought they were a lot more... human than that..." The gargantuan machine in Wally's courtyard was just that; a strictly mechanical, artificial creature with bulky, twisting arms and legs held together with steel and fire. If this was a nasod, it was nothing like the etchings and accounts found in histories of the ancient world.

"What are you doing? Come on!" Elsword tugged at Aisha's sleeve and tore her away from her momentary fascination. Keeping low, they headed for the nearest tower and ducked in through an open door. Inside, the halls and chambers were quiet and bare. There weren't nesarly as many knights as either had expected, not that they would complain, and it was fairly easy for them to sneak down the tower, past a drowsy guard, across the courtyard and into the keep's side entrance. In fact, there were scarcely a half dozen knights standing watch as they made they way through dimly lit stairwells and vacant corridors, fostering a slow, creeping sense of dread in the back of Aisha's thoughts. As they neared the top of the keep and approached Lord Wally's study, a crude, jarring laugh erupted from an open doorway nearby. Pressing himself flat against the wall, Elsword crept closer and peered inside.

At a grand dining table, Banthus and his dozen underlings emptied huge flagons and shoveled meat and bread into their mouths. At the head of the table, the knight-captain who took Banthus into custody sat hanging his head.

"Show the least bit of dignity, won't you? Lord Wally expects you to be at the ready in the event he's attacked, not slovenly drunk and sprawled across the floor."

Setting his cup down, Banthus clapped his hands together and chortled. "Oh, certainly! Boys and girls! Shape up, or they won't give us a sack of gold to top off the mountain we've already got!"

"Quiet!" The knight captain stood and slammed his hands on the table "Lord Wally has already given you more than enough, so give him your respect or I'll send you off to work the mines with the nasod."

Elsword's eyes went wide and he turned to look over his shoulder. "Aisha! Get over here!" He motioned to her, but Aisha was preoccupied with the view from the window at the end of the hall.

"Elsword, look!"

"I said get over here! They just said Wally hired the bandits!" He whispered as loudly and harshly as he could while taking his sword in hand.

"No, the El! Look-" Aisha turned from the window only to see Elsword charging into the crowded dining room. Chanting and gripping her wand, she ran. Elsword rushed in and hit the knight captain in the back, slamming him face first down onto the table as the bandits all leapt to their feet and backed away. Just as Elsword opened his mouth to demand their surrender, Aisha tore into the room and shoved him aside. Holding her hand steady and closing her eyes, she threw back her cloak and lightning shot into the room, racing through the air and latching onto the bandits' weapons. One by one, they dropped to their knees and fell across the table and floor. Confused and caught off guard, Elsword looked up at Aisha, first annoyed and then dumbfounded. She reached down and pulled him up by the elbow, dragging him back into the hallway.

"Hey! What the hell was that-"

"Look!" Aisha pulled him over to the window overlooking the courtyard. "It's the El!" In the courtyard, a battalion of knights stood in formation as one of the enormous nasod effortlessly hefted the massive El in its arms. Archers and knights were assembling all along the curtain wall, wearing tabards emblazoned with Lord Wally's crest and marching in lock step. In the center of the courtyard, a huge statue of the world shifted forward, sliding away to reveal a set of stairs that delved into the unseen reaches of the underground. From those stairs, Lord Wally strode confidently, another huge nasod following close behind him as he raised his arms and addressed his knights.

The moment Elsword saw the nasod and its cargo, his eyes went wide and he bolted for the stairs. Aisha reached out to stop him without success. Gritting her teeth, she rushed after him as he barreled through the knights left inside the keep and burst out onto the outer wall. The wind had picked up in the minutes they spent inside and snow was beginning to pile up on the frigid stone. Biting her lip, Aisha tossed away her cloak and threw a bright fireball into the sky as Elsword rushed the nearest archer.

Seeing the bright glow of fire in the sky, Rena leapt from the top of a quivering tree and landed on the castle wall between a pair of Wally's soldiers. She swept her leg out and dropped them to the ground, pinning them there with a pair of arrows in their sides. In the single moment she had to breath and survey the battlefield, her heart caught in her throat. "This..." She was robbed of any time for contemplation by an arrow whistling past her shoulder. She dove immediately, tumbling past the nearest knight and kicking him over the wall as she loosed a volley downwind and stole a glance at the shimmering El.

"Raise the gate!" Lord Wally stood in the midst of his knights and shouted to those on the wall, leading his nasod through the courtyard as he studied the two youths fighting on the west wall.

Shifting his feet, Elsword raised his blade and an arrow shattered against it edge as Aisha pelted the knights ahead of them with a hail of fire. As they advanced through the ranks of Wally's knights, she turned and blasted the nasod below. Creaking, the steel golem shambled on toward the gate unscathed.

"We've got to close the gate!" Aisha shouted over the roar of soldiers rushing toward them and Elsword swung broadly, knocking two men over into the courtyard. They stormed toward the gatehouse through a flurry of arrows and blades while the remainder of the knights stampeded up through the nearest tower and onto the wall. Across the courtyard, Rena jumped over the mound of fallen soldiers around her and ran along the parapets, picking off as many of the knights moving to surround Elsword and Aisha as she could while barely sidestepping those closing in around her. Seeing a swarm of raised swords racing toward her, she slid across the wall and to the top of the tower steps, planting her foot in the visor of a charging knight and sending him toppling into his comrades below. Searching for higher ground, Rena grabbed onto the jagged stone of the nearest tower and threw herself up onto its roof, grounding herself and taking aim at the soldiers below. As she leveled her bow at Wally's nasod, the piercing winter wind blew a pair of arrows off course, grazing Rena's leg and thigh as she released a volley of her own into the air.

With blood spilling through the air and falling on the fresh white carpet below, Elsword thrust forward, doubling a knight over as his armor bent inward. A burst of fire ripped across the wall sending the staggered knight as well as the archer behind him flying backward and clearing the path to the gate house. Eyes fixed on rising gate below, Elsword raced to cut the rope holding it aloft. Covering him, e Aisha faced down a rapidly advancing wall of blades and armor. Spinning quickly, she sent a wave of fire and wind whirling out and toward the charging crowd. Just as she readied her wand for another spell, a heavy blade sliced through the air and flame, its edge seeking Aisha's heart. She raised her hands and just barely traded a wide gash across her palms for her life. A sharp crack rang out as Elsword hacked through the rope and the outer gate fell and he immediately rushed back onto the wall, hurling himself past Aisha and knocking over her attacker.

"You okay?" He muttered as he panted and struggled to block his opponent's relentless assault.

Aisha bit her lip as her blood painted the ground. Clenching her wand tightly with both hands, she stood firmly and smashed the nearest soldier in the knee. "Don't worry about me! Wally's getting away with the El!"

It was just as she said. Despite their path being barred by a heavy iron gate, Wally's nasod had started to tear through the gatehouse itself and was already halfway through. As Aisha and Elsword glanced over at the tumult below, one of the hulking nasod turned to face them. It hummed and crackled, twisting its gears and billowing smoke until a brilliant flash encompassed the courtyard. In the breadth of a heartbeat, Aisha grabbed Elsword and waved her wand, teleporting them as far away as she could. From the nasod's eye shot a solid beam of light, destroying the castle wall and all that stood atop it. Turning to the inner wall, it focused its gaze on the tower where Rena stood. Just as the air filled with light for a second time, she dove from the rooftop, tumbling to the wall and landing hard on her side. As stone and iron crumbled around her, she pulled herself up to her feet, her legs quivering and her breath stolen by the fall. The remnants of the tower cascaded toward her, looming like a monstrous wave as she yanked herself over the wall and let gravity pull her to the courtyard. Within an instant, a jagged cornerstone smashed into outline of her body had left in the snow.

With the wind roaring through the trees, the snow stung at every inch of open skin and the sinking sun offered no relief. While his castle crumbled and nearly all of his knights lay wounded or dead by his own hand, Wally stood between his towering metal soldiers and watched as they tore their way to the road. Coughing, trembling, and barely able to stand, Rena limped across the courtyard to the prone silhouettes of her companions. Shaking snow from their backs, Elsword and Aisha fought the fatigue in their legs and ran toward Wally only to lose their hard won balance to the winter wind. As they struggled to stand, Rena threw herself in front of them and drew her bow.

"Stop right there!" She held her ground as Lord Wally turned back to face her, his nasod guardians at his side.

"Young woman, why are you fighting us so desperately?" Wally tilted his head, genuinely confounded. "We are trying to make this world a better place for everyone!"

Elsword climbed to his feet and glared fiercely. "Like hell you are! Do you know how many people died when we lost the El?"

Wally shook his head and clasped his hands together. "I had no idea that people had lost their lives, but if that is the case... then I am truly sorry, but this loss will soon be overshadowed by a much greater boon for us all! This El crystal of yours will be our key to mass producing nasod of every kind imaginable! We'll finally be able save people from dangerous and backbreaking labor, from war and from the suffering of daily life! I am truly sorry, young man, but even if the death toll is tallied in the thousands, it will be a pittance compared to our reward."

"How can you say!" Aisha shouted into the snow as blood poured from her hands. "You're not making life better for everyone that died!"

Frowning, Lord Wally turned his back to their protests and signaled to his guards. With a deep, unsettling roar, the el-bearing nasod marched off through the remains of the gatehouse and into the forest surrounded by Wally's remaining soldiers.

"It is a shame that you cannot see the promise of our bright future, but I assure it it will come with or without your approval. So that you might better understand the future we're working toward, I will leave No. 7 here with you." As Wally walked off after the El, Rena loosed the arrow she had aimed at him. As the arrow flew through the air, the remaining nasod rumbled and lurched forward, shielding its creator and suffering less than a scratch for its effort.

With Wally gone beyond sight, the mechanical colossus stared vacantly at its targets. Gasping for breath in the midst of a blizzard, Elsword locked his knees in place and gripped his blade. Beside him, Aisha and Rena were both bleeding heavily, their legs trembling under their own weight as the cold seeped under their skin. The El was so close, and yet he couldn't take it back. The ones responsible for all the deaths in Ruben and the other forest villages were in front of him just moments ago, and he couldn't even reach them. Staring up at the silvery mass of steel and steam in front of him, his eyes burned fiercely and he charged forward.

"Elsword, wait!" By the time Rena shouted after him, it was too late for him to stop. Once he neared the nasod, its arms spun rapidly, slamming into Elsword's chest and sending him hurtling through the air. While he clambered to his feet, Aisha jumped in front of him and swung her hands out, sending a mass of scorching flame through the air. Creaking and groaning in the heat, the steel beast lunged through the flame and threw its arms forward, flinging Aisha to the ground and knocking her wand into the air. All the while, Rena pelted the towering nasod with a relentless barrage, every arrow doing scarcely more damage than the fluttering snow. Scrambling to his feet, Elsword raced around to the back of Wally's No. 7, slamming his blade hard into its leg. Twisting and buzzing, the machine pitched to the side and opened its jagged claws, snatching up Elsword and hurling him into Rena. They skid through the snow, tumbling and rolling across the courtyard, slowed only by the snow and the broken chunks of granite that fell from the wall above. Once they came to a stop, neither of them got up.

Trudging through the snow with its heaving gait, Wally's nasod drew back its arms and flung them toward Aisha. She rolled to the side just as a mass of steel drove into the ground beside her and jagged shards of stone and earth flew through the air. Despite all the times she faltered while learning magic, despite all the times she failed before she could finally cast the tiniest spell, pushing herself off of the snow covered ground and up to her feet was the hardest thing Aisha had ever done. Wheezing and gasping for breath, she forced her legs forward as she desperately retreated from the advancing machine. By the time she made it to Rena's side, her strength began to fail her and she plummeted to the ground, screaming in pain as she landed on her aching hands.

"Rena... Rena, get up..." Aisha's voice cracked and faded into the snow, drowned out by the unsteady rhythm of metal pounding into the earth. Her own hands trembling, she shook Rena's shoulders and tugged on her arm to no avail. Beyond exhaustion, she crawled across the ground as the melting snow mixed with a tear and rolled down her cheek.

"Elsword, stand up... You idiot, stand up!" Gasping amid sobs, she grabbed his arm and pounded on his chest. "If you don't stand up, we're all gonna die!" Raising both hands into the air, she slammed her fists into the ground.

"...So?" A faint, weary voice rose from Elsword's lips. "...I couldn't bring the El back... I can't... beat this thing... so..."

"Stop it!" Aisha screamed into bitter cold. "You're supposed to be too stubborn and stupid to die, so get up! We can still get away if you just _get up!_"

"You don't get it!" Elsword clawed at the ground and winced as he pulled his head up. "I can't run... I have to fight... but..." He reached for his sword but it was further than his arms could manage. As he glared up at Aisha bleakly, his eyes swelled with tears. "I can't beat it... so what am I supposed to do?"He collapsed to the ground, his eyes wet and vacant as he stared up at the sky and listened to the clattering of metal just yards away. His lips moved and a timid whisper escaped into the air, barely strong enough to reach his own ears. "...Sis..."

"Don't... worry..." Just behind them, Rena hacked and gasped, blood trickling down the side of her mouth as she looked back to Aisha and forced a smile. "Nobody's going to die today." Using all the strength left in her legs, Rena lifted herself to her knees and, trembling violently, rose to her feet. As her body wavered and shook, Aisha and Elsword looked on, amazed. It was obvious to them both that Rena couldn't even level her bow, much less fight anymore, but the image of her standing before them, her bloodstained hair blowing in the frozen wind as the shadow of the hulking nasod loomed over her shocked them both. Dropping her arms and her eyes, Aisha gathered the last scraps of her resolve.

"Elsword..."

"Yeah..." A groan of pain spilled out as Elsword pulled himself to his sword and pushed himself off the ground. "I don't... wanna see her die either..."

The vicious wind faded to a whisper as Wally's nasod screeched to a halt in front of Rena. Steadying herself, she looked up and stretched out her arms as the lumbering machine reared back for a final strike. Whirling and humming, its arm swung forward and cut through the air, landing with a sharp metallic clap that echoed through the courtyard. Shaking beneath the nasod's fist, Elsword strained to hold his blade steady. He grunted and cringed as Rena looked on, her eyes wide and her mouth agape. Elsword grinned. Twisting his body, he deflected the heavy steel arm into the ground and leapt back, swinging his sword and hurling it into the nasod's glowing eye. Wally's No. 7 recoiled from the shock, fire spouting from its head and smoke shooting from its neck as it raised its fists high in the air for another strike. As it did, Aisha appeared from a bright flash in the air and grabbed onto Elsword's blade, whipping back and forth through the air as the metal behemoth twisted and turned violently. Once it settled, A defiant spark spread across Aisha's face. Raising her right hand and chanting swiftly, she discharged a massive burst of lightning right into its damaged eye, sending the nasod tumbling backward. As it fell, its movements became erratic and its innards began to rumble and Aisha quickly dropped to the ground.

"Run!" Rena rushed to grab Elsword and Aisha and they all ran across the courtyard, stumbling and wincing as their bodies screamed in pain. Smoking viciously, Wally's No. 7 roared and flashed, exploding in a massive burst of light and fire and scattering bits of iron and shrapnel through the air. Closing her eyes and hoping for the best, Rena grabbed Elsword and Aisha and covered them as they dove to the ground. Steel and fire smashed into the ground around them as they shielded their heads and listened to the the last remnants of the monstrous machine fall to the earth. Soon, silence fell over the castle. Panting, aching, and shivering in the cold, Rena rolled over onto her back.

"Are you two... okay?"

Aisha moaned as she shifted onto her side. "Ow! No. But, I am alive, so I guess it could be worse..." A sharp pain shot through her hands as the adrenaline in her blood started to thin. "It doesn't feel like it could be worse though."

"Stop complaining..." Elsword grunted as he tried to raise himself to his elbows and faltered, plopping face first into the snow. "Oof..."

Rena chuckled and coughed. "Ha... we don't really look cool at all right now, considering we just took down a hundred guards and a giant nasod..."

"I don't care what I look like, I just wanna get someplace warm... And apple cider. I want some apple cider. Elsword, get me cider." Aisha mumbled as she rolled onto her back and reached up for her toes.

"Why do I have to get it?" Elsword grumbled as he rose up to his knees, pausing to catch his breath.

"Don't worry about it... I'll buy everybody a gallon of cider, once we make it back to the inn..." Rena stared up at the sky, still too tired and weak to stand on her own. Looking up at the lifeless sky, she saw a pair of hands held out toward her and she reached for them. As Elsword and Aisha pulled her up to her feet, the final snowflake of the storm fell and the sun retreated to the other side of the world. Hobbling toward town, the three of them were greeted by a crowd of spectators and curious townsfolk, led by Hoffman.

"What on earth..." Hoffman's mouth dropped when he saw the state of Wally's castle and the shape of the three people walking away from it.

Aisha huffed as she held up Rena's right arm and smiled awkwardly. "Um... we'll tell you about it...in the morning."


	8. Conviction and Malediction

II.I Conviction and Malediction

* * *

Splinters splashed through the air as a fierce shout filled the forest just outside of Elder. Grunting and grumbling, Elsword kicked against the trunk of a large pine, yanking and tugging at his sword until he finally got it free. Suspended from the branches overhead, a dozen heavy logs and trunks bore the wounds of a heavy blade, the result of Elsword's self-imposed training regimen. After steadying the swinging logs and centering himself, he took a slow, deep breath and closed his eyes. Drawing his hands up swiftly, he pulled his blade around and hit three trunks in one swing, allowing his momentum to carry him into the next strike and slicing across two trunks at his back. As the first set of targets swung back, he stepped between them, allowing their bulk to slide off the flat of his blade before delivering a final thrust. Two swinging trunks spun and drifted off to either side of Elsword as sweat flew from the edges of his face. Then, a third trunk slammed right into his shoulder, and another into his back a moment later. He stumbled to his knees and panted, slamming his fist into the ground as he returned to his feet. Scowling, he drew back and punched the nearest log in frustration and promptly recoiled form the pain, shaking his hand out as he gathered up his sword and headed back into town.

"Ow! Stupid..."

It had been three days since Wally fled with the El, crossing into the desert and burning the only bridge for miles behind him. Though anxious to follow after him, Elsword, Aisha, and Rena had little choice but to remain in Elder while the bridge was repaired and their wounds healed. Following Wally's escape, the people of Elder banded together and approached the castle, hoping to claim the titles to their land and appeal to the kingdom of Velder for recognition as an independent city-state rather than a fiefdom ruled by an absent Lord. Surprisingly, those knights who remained at the castle opposed their efforts and put up a staunch resistance that held until the garrison's knight captain declared his surrender, asking the townsfolk for help in burying the dead and repairing the extensive damage caused by Wally's nasod. Faced with the defense of a broken, abandoned castle through the harshest days of winter, the lot of Wally's former soldiers quickly followed suit and soon Elder was bustling with activity as workers hurried between the castle, the market, and the charred remains of the bridge leading into the desert.

For those in pursuit of the El, however, the excitement and enthusiasm that filled the streets was a bitter comfort. The instant he was well enough to walk, Elsword had stormed off into the woods and started to train himself, ending each day with more cuts and scrapes than had healed the previous evening. Despite having destroyed Wally's nasod, he and his companions realized that none of them were strong enough to take the El back from Wally even if they were able to catch up to him. Aisha became more determined, Rena was more focused, but Elsword only grew more frustrated as he struggled just to get the better of a dozen swinging logs. Wincing, he strode off to the nearest tavern where he stopped just long enough to gather up a pile of meat and bread before heading back into the forest.

Across town, a quick rhythm echoed through Hoffman's shop as a bandaged hand rapt its knuckles across his door.

"Yes, we're open! Come right in!" Hoffman shouted from the recesses of his storeroom and hurried to the front counter as the door creaked open and Aisha stepped inside.

"You're Hoffman, right?" She closed the door behind her and slowly approached the counter. Hoffman smiled wearily, his eyes heavy and red from a near total lack of sleep since Wally's departure.

"Yes, I am indeed. What can I do for you?"

Aisha walked straight up to the counter and stared at Hoffman, her eyes stern and resolved. "I need all the grimoires you have, and a history of the nasod."

"I- well..." Hoffman stumbled through his words, unsure of how to respond to her request. "I'll show you what I have. Come with me." Motioning toward the storeroom, he slid his hand across the counter as he led Aisha toward a large case of dust covered books.

"Now, let's see... This..." A thick, leather bound tome tugged against its neighbors as Hoffman withdrew it into his hands, "is probably the best reference on the nasod I've ever seen. Granted, it's the only one I've ever seen, so I don't know how useful it could be to you. As for grimoires... we have a few, three I think, but... I'm not sure how useful they'd be to you."

Aisha took the leather bound book and nestled it under her arm. "I don't care, I need to see all of them."

Hoffman sighed. "Alright... well, here are two of them... they're both very basic though, one of them is even written for children, not that I see the point of that." He quickly picked out two thin, weather worn grimoires and handed them over to Aisha. Just as he said, they were extremely basic and with just a glance inside the cover, Aisha could tell that there were scarcely anything within that she didn't already know. Disappointed, she frowned and looked back to Hoffman.

"You said you had three though, right? Where's the other one?"

"That's..." Running his hand over his balding head, he averted his eyes and laid his gaze on a small, ornate lockbox covered in a thick layer of dust and dirt. "I don't think you'd want anything to do with that one. It's the grimoire we confiscated from a dark magician who terrorized the city some decades ago. Nothing inside it could possibly be good if it got out into the world."

Aisha glared at him, unconsciously scowling as she pouted. "That's the one I need then!"

"No! Young lady, this is dark, destructive magic and it's locked away for a reason! We'd burn it if we could, but the book survived every fire we threw it in. I cannot give you such an evil thing."

A calm contempt filled Aisha's eyes. "Magic isn't evil, it's only people that are. It doesn't matter if it's dangerous magic, that just means its powerful, and I need it so that we can stop Wally without getting ourselves killed."

Faced with her determined, albeit stubborn gaze and sound logic, Hoffman breathed deeply and held his breath as he unlocked the case of the dark grimoire.

"If I give this to you, you must swear to me that you will never use this magic anywhere near civilization or where there are people or animals around. It's far too dangerous to use on a whim, and far too powerful to use indiscriminately."

Aisha nodded. "Alright, I promise." She reached down and picked up the dense grimoire, shaking the dust from its pages and inspecting this supposed object of great evil. In her judgment, it was a book just like any other, perhaps with a few protective enchantments to keep it safe from rain and fire, but a book nonetheless. In her excitement, she began to flip through its pages and drink in everything that she saw. Within the first tenth of the book there were already a dozen formulas she'd never encountered before, instructions on how to use the energies of nature and life and darkness in ways she'd never even considered. Her jubilation was interrupted by a dull clap as Hoffman reached forward and shut the grimoire, anxiety pouring across his face.

"Please... don't read that here."

Confused and then annoyed, Aisha sighed and placed the grimoire beneath her arm along with the rest of the books, nodding and returning to the front of the shop. Hoffman followed, stopping to retrieve a small trinket from a drawer, placing it atop Aisha's stack of books. She stood up on the tips of her toes and examined what looked to be an ornate broach crafted in the shape of a tiny skull. Intrigued, Aisha took it in her hands and turned it over.

"What's this?"

"This was the head of a fairy, trapped in our world and killed for its skull. Supposedly, it's a powerful talisman that wards off curses, but... the very making of such a thing is so repulsive that most people can't bear to even look at it."

As she hefted the broach and traced its lines, it became clear to her that it was made of ceramic and not bone, in the shape of a owl's skull rather than a fairy's.

"I-is that right?" She smiled awkwardly, not wanting to challenge Hoffman's assertion given the stern, grave look in his eyes. Silently, he nodded back to her and placed his hands on the counter.

"Please, take this as well and wear it. It may seem inconvenient, but if you really want to study that grimoire, I think the people you pass by deserve to know that you're capable of using extremely hazardous magic. It is only right that we should warn them ahead of time."

Aisha's amusement at his misplaced gravity faded and she took the talisman into her pocket.

"Fine. But, if you're so afraid of it, why do you even have stuff like that in your shop? The grimoire too, why did you keep it all these years?"

Hoffman wrung his hands out. "It's not a matter of choice, I assure you. Since I'm the head of the merchant's association, my shop doubles as a storehouse for some of the merchants who don't have any place to keep their goods. Because of that, I often get saddled with things that nobody wants and, well... it wouldn't be right to give these things away to just anyone. Oh, don't worry about payment." He shook his hand as Aisha reached for her coin purse. "We admire you all for standing up to Wally and stopping his nasod from doing more damage than it did, so this much is the least we can do for you."

"Oh, Thank you." Aisha spoke as politely as she could, trying to ignore the odd mixture of gratitude and aversion Hoffman was displaying toward her.

"You won't reconsider, will you?" He looked at her with a deep, uneasy concern. "A young lady such as yourself can surely find other, less... severe ways to better herself."

Aisha put on the happiest, though least sincere smile she could manage and gathered up her books. "Don't worry, I'll be fine! Thanks again!" She bounced out of Hoffman's shop as he waved and smiled faintly at her, still staring at her with a faint anxiety in his eyes. Once Aisha was out in the street, her fake smile faded into a genuine grimace.

"What was his problem? It's not like I'm bathing in the blood of small children or losing my innocence just because I'm learning how to make clouds of acid..." She huffed and puffed as she stomped back to the inn, shrugging off the winter wind and blowing her ruffled hair out of her eyes. Tugging at the end of her bangs, she noticed that almost every strand was singed and twisted, scorched in her desperate attempts to stop Wally's No. 7. Forgetting the anxiety and discomfort that had filled Hoffman's shop, she stepped brightly and smiled. As she balanced her pile of books between her bandaged hands, she looked up at the clearing skies and pondered the pair of scissors she'd purchased a few days earlier.

"I wonder if I could get Rena to cut my hair for me?"


	9. The Singing Breeze

The Singing Breeze

* * *

A dull thud echoed through the forest as Elsword kicked off of a hollow stump, leaping into the air and striking a swaying block of wood. As he landed, he spun around and swung out broadly, hitting two logs that were flying through the air toward him. Gripping his blade with both hands, he carefully dodged another wave of swaying trunks, rolling to the side and striking the nearest with all his strength.

"Rrr... get out of there..." Elsword snarled, his blade stuck fast in the side of the swinging log. Yanking and tugging furiously, he leaned his whole body forward and pulled his sword overhead, jerking it down as hard as he could. As his sword fell to the ground, a loud crackling snap filled the air. Looking down, Elsword noticed that he hadn't actually managed to rid himself of the trunk; rather, he had pulled it down to the ground. Looking up, he noticed a thick, heavy branch racing toward his head. Several minutes later, after he regained his senses and pulled himself up to his feet, he stomped away, grumbling under his breath as he headed back toward the town.

At the forest's edge, a calm breeze carried the scent of stove fires and the din of the city streets through the air, drifting through the trees and settling into the frosted ground. Elsword trudged through the vanishing snow and the chill winter whirled around him, leaving the sounds of the city in their wake. As he neared the forest's edge, the bustle of merchants and workers was joined by a faint, fluttering melody. Curious, Elsword turned away from the nearby road and headed back into the woods. Following the sound, he hopped over thick roots and climbed up a steep embankment, through dense clusters of elderly oaks until he finally stepped into a small, tranquil clearing. Atop a weather worn boulder, Rena sat with her bow in hand, humming as she plucked an invisible string. The song spilling out into the air was strange and formless, a meandering flight of notes in no particular pattern at all that still managed to capture Elsword's attention with it's sharp, dulcet tone. Spotting him from the corner of her eye, Rena fell silent and hopped down to the ground.

"Hi there." She smiled brightly. "How's your training going?"

Elsword shook his head out, trying to dismiss the dull ache of the lump on his forehead. "It's fine." Completely unaware of himself, he reached up and patted his face, checking for blood. Humming lightly, Rena walked up to him and took stock of his injuries. Aside from the welt on his head, a dozen scrapes and scratches covered his arms and legs and spattering of bruises colored his shins and elbows.

She chuckled faintly. "It doesn't look like it's going too well for you."

Elsword turned his head to the side and scowled at the ground. "I said it's fine. This much is... nothing much for..." His words trailed off and he shook his head again.

"Why don't we take a break for now?" Rena smiled awkwardly and wondering if Elsword was just exhausted or had hit his head too hard. She led him over to the boulder where she had been sitting and helped him up to the top, offering him a skin of water once he'd steadied himself. Once Elsword had chugged down the better part of a liter, he wiped his mouth and sat down, crossing his legs and drawing his cloak around him to guard against the cold.

"Thanks..." He glanced off to the side, "What was that song you were humming?"

"Ah, that?" Rena winked. "That was my secret training."

Confused, Elsword turned to her and his brow wrinkled up which, in turn, caused him to wince in pain and press his hand to his forehead. Rena's eyes widened anxiously.

"Um, why don't we talk about this on the way back to town... you should see a doctor, and you're probably hungry too, right?"

Elsword huffed and crossed his arms. "I don't need to see a doctor, I'm fine..." Despite his claim of soundness, he was listing to the right and had to throw a hand out to steady himself.

"Elsword..." Rena's expression shifted, her eyes filled with a stern but gentle insistence, "Let's go visit the doctor, okay?"

Elsword opened his mouth to protest, but something about her face triggered a distant memory in him. Somewhere, at some time, he had seen someone with that expression before. Was it his sister? Or an even further memory of his late mother? Regardless, he slowly gave in and nodded hesitantly. "A-alright..."

"Good!" Rena bounced up to her feet and offered Elsword a hand. She helped him down to the ground and out of the forest, watching his feet as he walked along the road to make sure he didn't teeter off into a tree.

"What sort of training was that?" Elsword glanced to Rena curiously.

"It's a sort of magic..." Rena smiled and placed her finger to her lips, "But for now, it's a secret."

Elsword grimaced. "What? How come?"

Giggling, Rena stared down the open road ahead of them. "I'll tell you all about it when I'm finished, how's that?"

Agreeing despite his discontent, Elsword nodded and lowered his head. "Hey, Rena... Do you know a lot about magic?"

"I guess I know a bit, but if you're looking for an expert, I know somebody who knows a lot more than I do." She grinned slyly but Elsword didn't seem to follow her. "What did you want to know?"

"Can anybody use magic?" Elsword was now staring at the ground sheepishly as though asking this question somehow put his pride at risk. Rena quickly saw where he was headed and was actually a bit surprised.

"Hm... Yes, as far as I know..." She crept up behind Elsword and spoke over his shoulder, her face painted with a devious grin. "So, why do you wanna learn magic?"

Immediately, Elsword turned and stumbled back two steps. Rena giggled at his surprise and he blushed lightly, returning to the path as he adjusted his sword's harness. "I don't _want _to..."

"But you're worried that you won't be able to beat another nasod with just your sword?" Rena resumed her usual, gentle tone and dropped her teasing smile.

"Yeah..."

The wind whistled by them and brought the noise of a lively city with it. In the scarce silence, Rena paused to consider her response. "It's true that the nasod we fought would have been easier to handle if we were all using the sort of magic Aisha uses... but then, there's no guarantee that they'll all be like that either. If you want to learn magic, I think it'd help out a lot, but at the same time, I think your training as a knight has been really helpful to us as well. You'll have to think it over and decide for yourself which way to take your training," Rena smiled at him, "but I think you'll be fine, whatever you choose. Of course, if you want to learn magic, there's only one person I know who could teach you properly..."

Still oblivious, Elsword turned to Rena, gazing intently. "Really? Who is it? Where are they?"

Rena giggled lightly. "Right now? I think she's in our room, reading over a few books and sipping some hot cocoa."

"Geh..." Elsword nearly froze in his tracks once he realized that she had been talking about Aisha the whole time. "...I better stick to sword practice then."

Laughter and shouting filled the roadside as they crossed through the gates and into the city. "You should at least try to talk to her now that everything has calmed down. Even if you don't want to learn from her, she might have a few books that could help you, and besides that..." Rena sighed fondly, "I think you two will get along a lot better once you can talk things over without arguing and yelling at one another."

"I don't know if we're talking about the same kid..." Elsword glared at her skeptically as they arrived at the town clinic. Beaming, Rena clapped her hands together.

"Here we are. Now, you go see the doctor. I've got to go pick up our new armor and gear and I'll meet you back at the Inn, okay?"

Reluctantly, Elsword nodded and dragged himself into the clinic. Once inside, he considered waiting a few moments until Rena had gone and then leaving himself, but when he turned around, Rena greeted him with a wave as she waited outside the clinic window. Glowering, he waited for a nurse to take him off to be examined, wincing and dragging his feet every step of the way.

The light of a slumped, exhausted candle flickered and finally vanished in a wisp of smoke. In a room on the inn's second story, Aisha sighed in frustration as she unpacked the third candle of the day, the eighteenth that week, and set it alight, placing it on her nightstand and returning to the array of books scattered across her bed. Just as she was about to dash across the room and leap onto her bed playfully, the lock in the door clicked and the handle turned. Rena entered with her arms full of clothes and tools and supplies, setting them down on her bed as carefully as she could. Eying the stack of fabric and metal, Aisha turned to Rena.

"What's all that?"

Rena grinned. "Our new clothes." She sifted through the pile and began sorting its contents into smaller stacks. Aisha approached and looked on as she unfolded a lavish purple dress, decorated with ribbons and finished with a very ruffly skirt. "Here you go, this one's for you."

Aisha took the dress in hand and looked it over, pleased with the feel and weight of it. She smiled up at Rena, holding the dress in both arms. "Thanks. I'm gonna go try-" She turned toward her bed but stopped before she took a single step. "Oh, first..."

Rena tilted her head to the side. "Hm?"

"Could you trim my hair up for me?"

"Of course!" Rena bounced over to her dresser and pulled out a brush and a comb while Aisha retrieved her shining new scissors and seated herself by the window with a book opened across her lap. Brushing out Aisha's hair was a bit of a trial, and several times the brush caught on a knot or a clump of singed hair, moving on with a painful pop as it pulled and tugged.

"Ah, I'm sorry!" Rena found herself apologizing frequently, though she wasn't surprised by the mess of tangled frizz and fluff atop Aisha's head. They had, after all, just days before fought an exploding machine after running around through the mountains and forest for three days without bathing.

"It's oka- ow!"

Rena's eyes went wide and she backed away suddenly as she pulled a small clump of hair out of Aisha's head. "I'm sorry!"

"No, it's okay!" Aisha tried her best to be reassuring. "It doesn't hurt that much, and I want it to get straightened up and trimmed before I try on new clothes, so it's okay."

Gently, carefully, Rena returned and brushed out the rest of Aisha's hair, carefully working through every singed knot. As she wove her fingers into Aisha's hair and started trimming, she looked over at the book laid out across her lap. Its pages were well aged and covered with diagrams and schematics for mechanical parts and devices, most made of wood and metal and described in a script so sloppy and worn that it could easily have been mistaken for ancient, coded gibberish.

"Have you found anything useful so far?" Rena asked into the air as she held a line of hair between her fingers.

"A lot, but then... not very much either..." Aisha stared at the book, intrigued and yet annoyed. "This book has nothing on actual nasod, but it talks about machines and mechanical engineering a lot. It says that a lot of the 'nasod' were just elaborate machines made to look like people and do work or serve tea and things like that..."

Rena began snipping carefully around Aisha's ears, negotiating the uneven scorching each side of her head had received. "That's exactly what Wally had though, right?" She smiled brightly.

"That's the problem though..." Aisha slammed the book shut and pouted in a vain attempt to guilt the tome into changing its contents. "A lot of the machines in here look like Wally's nasod, but none of them could do anything complicated or difficult, and none of them were very powerful... Especially the huge death ray. It's got nothing about huge death rays!"

Rena chuckled lightly and continued cutting away the frayed edges of Aisha's hair in silence for a time. Of course, she would not tolerate any sort of lull in the conversation, especially when it could easily be filled with teasing.

"Ah~ I wonder when Elsword will get back from the Doctor's..."

Aisha jerked her head to the side sharply. "What! What happened to him?"

"Oh?" Rena grinned slyly, "So you're worried about him?"

Realizing she just walked into a vicious trap, Aisha blushed indignantly and turned back to face the wall. "I'm not worried. I was just surprised that he'd ever go to a doctor, so I figured it had to be something serious like decapitation or something like that."

"No, not that serious..." Rena giggled and worked her fingers back over Aisha's head. "Though he did bump his head and right after that, he started asking if 'Lovely Miss Aisha' would teach him how to use magic."

Aisha recoiled in shock. "You're lying..."

"Yup!" Beaming, Rena snipped the last singed strand of Aisha's bangs. "But, not about all of it, so you'll just have to ask him when he gets back."

"Hm..." Aisha took a moment to consider the possible combinations of truth and falsehood in Rena's statement and she came to the conclusion that, if a knock on the head could make Elsword more polite and agreeable, she might have to invest in a wooden mallet. She was still annoyed, however, and although the cause was clearly Rena's teasing, Aisha found herself more annoyed at herself for being curious about what Elsword had actually said.

With a few final clips and snips, Rena finished her work and set the scissors aside. Stepping lightly, she fetched a mirror from the side of the washbasin and held it out for Aisha. "All done. How do you like it?"

Aisha inspected her hair for a moment, twisting her bangs with her fingers and looking up as though she would somehow be able to catch a glimpse of the top of her head. "I guess you can't do too much when your hair gets burnt all over..."

"Don't say that, it looks cute." Rena reached forward and handed Aisha the mirror.

Aisha nodded, still skeptical as she turned her head and glanced at herself. "Are you sure?"

"If you don't trust me, we can always ask for a third opinion..." Rena grinned and her eyes narrowed.

"No thank you." Grimacing, Aisha returned the mirror and stood up, brushing a cloud of hair and dander from her as she turned to draw the curtains. Upon returning the mirror to its rightful place, Rena opened the door to the hallway and stepped outside.

"Let me know when you're finished changing, okay?"

"Okay, I won't take long." Aisha fluffed out her new dress as Rena closed the door and turned, waiting in the hallway. As she leaned against the rough wood of the unpainted wall, she closed her eyes and fell away into her thoughts.

_Hm... maybe I shouldn't tease those two so much... Well, I'm sure it'll be good for them~ Although they aren't anything like what I expected when we first met..._ She breathed slowly as she recalled the first time she'd seen Elsword in Ruben village, enthusiastically training alongside knights who were twice his age and still not as confident. It was only a day later that she had encountered Aisha at Ruben's inn and spent an entertaining evening chatting with her about magic and travel and the sights of the world. _They seemed just like normal kids back then too. Really hard working, but still pretty normal... But the way they both started chasing after the El, and the way they run into huge fights without even hesitating is really amazing. I wonder what happened to both of them to give them that sort of conviction at their age... _Staring beyond the walls of the quiet corridor, Rena lost herself in speculation and fond reminiscence. She passed the time in time long past until the creaking of wood against a hobbled nail drew her attention to the top of the stairs. Newly bandaged in at least two dozen places and wearing a scowl that would sour milk, Elsword headed down the hallway, glaring at Rena the entire time. Just as she was about to ask how things went, Aisha's voice leaked out of the closed door behind her.

"Okay, I'm done!"

Rena turned her head to the side and whispered. "Would you like to see something good?" She opened the door, motioning Elsword with an innocent smirk. Still glaring, Elsword moved past her and into the room.

At the window, outlined by the light of the late afternoon, Aisha spun quickly and spread her arms out, her skirt twisting around her before settling against her legs. "What do you think?"

Elsword stared, stunned. Aisha, too, was stunned when she realized that she was not, in fact, facing Rena and had just pulled off the cutest spin she could manage for Elsword instead.

"W-What are you doing here?" Aisha pointed swiftly, accusing Elsword of some unstated crime.

Blushing lightly, Elsword raised his arm and pointed back, though he wasn't sure why. "This is my room too! And Rena said-"

"Oh, by the way, I still have a lot of errands to run, so I'll be back later tonight~!" Rena leaned into the doorway, her hands clasped behind her back. "You two have some things to talk about, right? I'll leave you alone for a while then." A mischievous smile spread across her face, "By the way, your new dress looks adorable Aisha! Good luck, I'll see you later~." With that, Rena shut the door and hurried off, leaving her companions to negotiate a truce while she headed to nearest bakery for a cup of warm cider and a maple glazed biscuit.

_I really should stop teasing them like that... But they're so adorable!_ Rena nibbled her pastry and leaned back in her chair. _They're still so young, but they're both really capable, so I guess I don't really have to worry over them too much... Although making them blush at each other from time to time can't hurt. _Rena's airy laughter spilled into the air as she looked out into the forest. Eventually, they would be back on the trail of Wally and his nasod, fighting almost every day without a moment's rest or respite. Eventually, they might even end up in another dire standoff and next time, they might not be able to hobble away to the safety of their beds after everything is over. Rena understood this, and eventually, they would have no time to sit and talk as the afternoons withered into evening. Because of this, she smiled brightly, laughed freely, and embraced the task before them. Despite all of the difficulty thus far and all the difficulty to come, she was determined to count this journey as one of the happier memories in her life, and for that she was ready to shed as much blood as it took to ensure that no one would die.


	10. The Sharpest Sword

The Sharpest Sword

* * *

"Oh, by the way, I still have a lot of errands to run, so I'll be back later tonight~! You two have some things to talk about, right? I'll leave you alone for a while then." The door clicked shut as Rena hurried away, leaving Elsword and Aisha staring at one another, exasperated. Forcing herself to calm down, though only just barely, Aisha sighed.

"What happened to you? It looks like you got mauled by a bear."

"I'm fine." Elsword glanced aside, still scowling. "It's just from training."

For a moment, Aisha was stunned. In that single moment, she understood the weight of the scrapes and scars covering Elsword's arms and legs. In the next, her eyes darkened and her voice became stern. "That's from training? Elsword, are you stupid! Why would you train until you got that beat up! You look worse than when we fought Wally's nasod!"

Elsword glared at her fiercely and fumed. "What did you expect! If training doesn't hurt, you don't get stronger. It's not like I can read a stupid book and suddenly be able to bust up a nasod."

"None of that matters if you kill yourself in the middle of the woods fighting trees! What are you going to do if both your legs are broken when we can finally go after Wally!"

Electric tension shot through the air as their eyes filled with fire, both standing firm and fixed in place as a single thought filled their minds.

_Why doesn't she understand what I'm doing!_

_ Why doesn't he understand what I'm saying!_

"Fine, It doesn't matter." Elsword grabbed his new armor from Rena's bedside and stormed out of the room. "Couldn't learn anything useful from a snooty runt anyway." The sound of the slamming door rattled the walls and filled the room, leaving Aisha in a strange, uncomfortable silence. As the light of the late afternoon sun danced across her back, her eyes sank and her shoulders dropped.

"Stupid..." She plodded over to the edge of her bed and fell backward onto a pile of pillows, staring at the ceiling with her arms splayed across the bed.

Outside, Elsword stomped all the way downstairs, pausing as he rounded the corner into the lively dining hall. Standing alone as a dozen conversations wrapped around his ears, his scowl softened and he grumbled into dense noise all around him. He turned from the stairs and marched on past happy couples and cheering friends, wrenching open the outer door and fighting a blast of chill wind as he stepped outside. He wandered aimlessly through the streets of Elder, wincing whenever the cold crept beneath his collar and chilled his aching legs. After a half hour of frustration and pacing, Elsword stopped at a busy intersection and set his mind to finding a place to try on his new gear and rest for a while, preferably one without an overbearing mage. After just three steps into the next street, a gentle sigh rolled through the air.

"I guess it didn't go well, did it?" Rena leaned against a warm bakery window nearby, looking at Elsword with a soft smile in her eyes. While the crowd of shoppers and merchants shifted and flowed around him, Elsword tilted his head down and scoffed. Seeing the frustration heaped on his shoulders, Rena pushed off of the window behind her and made her way through the shifting swarm of busy feet. "Come with me for a bit, okay?"

Elsword grumbled but soon found himself following Rena into the bakery and back to a small corner table. The air inside was warm with the heat of ovens and the smell of sweet spices, reminding Elsword that he hadn't eaten anything but hard bread since breakfast. Soon, a pitcher of water and a plate of mincemeat pies found its way to his side and he furiously devoured the lot while Rena giggled to herself. With his belly full and the bakers racing to replenish their supply of mincemeat, Elsword's grumbling diminished and he looked up at Rena, silently confirming that he was finally ready to talk.

"Okay, tell me what happened this time." Rena folded her arms together in front of her and rested them on the table.

Clearly annoyed by even the memory of Aisha's lectures, Elsword glowered, Indignation dripping from his every word. "I came in to talk to her just like you said, and before I could say anything she started yelling at me for getting hurt while I was training."

"Ah, that's what she said?" Rena closed her eyes for a moment and thought. "What happened after that?"

"She just kept yelling at me about training and getting hurt and didn't even listen to me." Elsword picked up his glass and downed a pint of water in a vain attempt to cool his head. Once he was finished, Rena smiled gently and looked straight into his eyes.

"Do you know why she got mad at you though?"

"What? I don't know..." Elsword glanced through the nearest window, avoiding Rena's gaze. "She just starts shouting at me all the time for no reason."

Rena shook her head. "No, that's not it. It's true that she doesn't understand your training and what it takes, but she's not mad because she thinks you're stupid."

The very thought that Aisha considered him someone of at least average intelligence seemed like the most fantastical, unrealistic idea Elsword had ever heard. He immediately turned and glared at Rena skeptically. "...What?"

"Think about it this way..." Rena suppressed a light giggle as she addressed the very serious, very doubtful Elsword. "If you think she's always getting mad at you because she just thinks you're stupid, then why would she spend so much of her time and energy shouting at you? If she really didn't care, she just wouldn't bother and would try to ignore you, wouldn't she? But instead, she instantly starts yelling and shouting at you every time you get hurt or when she thinks something bad might happen to you. She seems like she's angry, but really she's just worried and doesn't understand what you're thinking."

"That's not-" Elsword started to object but suddenly went quiet. The memories of his every argument with Aisha flashed through his mind and, for a moment, his eyes went wide with shock before he returned to scowling. "...she really pisses me off. If she's worried, why does she have to keep yelling at me?" He mumbled to himself, crossing his arms and staring outside while Rena smiled at him.

"Well, you're both young, and on top of that, people deal with the things they think and feel in a lot of different ways. More than that..." She leaned forward a bit, trying to restore eye contact. "You're both really strong-willed and neither one of you is really wrong, so it's obvious that you'll keep fighting if you don't understand one another."

On the other side of the table, Elsword fought to maintain his agitation and was losing every second. He was still annoyed by the sheer number of times Aisha had labeled him an idiot and for a while, he really just wanted to smack her on the back of the head as hard as he could, but with a body covered in cuts and a face weary of frustration he was beginning to see the value in a truce. None of that meant that he was prepared to apologize though.

"She's still the one who's wrong."

"No..." Rena reached out and poked his forehead, nearly setting him off balance and toppling to the ground. "You're both wrong, but you're also both right. That's just how arguments go when you get to be adults, and if neither one of you is willing to apologize or understand the other, it'll never get resolved or the resolution will be really uneven and you'll still be mad. Listen... I can't make either of you get along, and if she won't stop fighting with you even if you try to understand, there's nothing you can do, right? But you need to try..." She leaned back into her chair and looked at him earnestly, "And you might think about a safer way of training too. The big tree trunks might be helpful, but in this case, if you're coming home with a concussion after just half a day's practice, Aisha's right to call it dangerous."

His every avenue of escape and aggression blocked, Elsword sat defeated, his mouth wrinkling up as he nodded. "Yeah... okay, I'll talk to her again."

"Great!" Rena bounced up in her chair, beaming brightly. "Oh, and by the way..." Her smile shifted into a smirk as she leaned across the table and held out her hand, whispering into Elsword's ear, "What did you think of her new clothes? Pretty cute, right?"

Blushing lightly, Elsword backed away from the table. "That runt? No way."

Struggling to control her sudden fit of giggles, Rena rose from her seat and sighed happily. "Well, good luck! And remember not to do anything that'll make it harder for either of you, okay?" She hopped off, handing a handful of copper coins to the baker for Elsword's mincemeat pies before humming her way outside. Annoyed, Elsword stood to chase after her only but quickly felt as though he was walking through a shallow swamp.

"Ugh... I ate... way too much..." He walked out of the warm bakery, drowsy from his feast until the harsh winter wind stung his face and ears. Meandering through the city streets and almost losing himself a few times, he made his way back to the inn and up to the second story with little trouble. In the last fifteen feet, however, his nerves started acting up and anxiety set in. Uneasy and scarcely prepared, he reached forward and twisted the old, worn wooden knob and drew open the door to their room. The instant he entered, Aisha bolted to her feet and turned to face him.

"Elsword!"

He paused, bracing himself for another tirade. When he saw her face, however, he relaxed his guard. Rather than anger, he was met with remorse, albeit awkward and unsteady. Aisha didn't look furious so much as she did anxious, echoing Elsword's expression as he bolstered his nerves and shut the door behind him.

"Hey..." He nodded slowly and set down his gear and unbuckled his sword, laying them alongside his bed. Cautiously, Aisha took a step toward him.

"Are you- Are you okay? Like, your wounds and the bump on your head and stuff..." Her eyes drifted to the floor in an attempt to avoid his gaze that proved altogether unnecessary since Elsword was still glancing at the nearest wall.

"Yeah, I'm okay..." His mouth wrinkled up uncomfortably. "Let's just talk about something else." Gritting his teeth, he formed the words of an apology in his head but couldn't bring himself to speak them aloud. It didn't help that they were both avoiding a direct discussion of their previous argument either. Puffing up her cheeks and clenching her fists, Aisha breathed in deeply and stared straight at Elsword.

"I-" She hesitated. "I'm sorry, alright!"

Elsword nearly fell backward. He looked as though he'd just seen the ghost of a giant bear, and that ghost-bear had just awkwardly shouted an apology at him. He was so unprepared that he had absolutely no idea how to respond and stood with his mouth agape, staring at Aisha in disbelief. His silence lasted so long that Aisha began to blush and panic.

"S-Say something!"

Elsword steadied his feet and started to calm his nerves. "I'm trying! It's not that easy, okay!" His eyes fixed on hers, Elsword started to stammer out a response. "I- Y-yes."

Aisha blinked. "Yes?"

"Me too, alright?" Elsword grimaced and his eyes returned to the wall as he crossed his arms. "I got too careless and trained too hard and that's why I got hurt..."

"No, that's not it." Aisha shook her head. "I wasn't... I didn't mean it like that. I just thought you were going to end up dead on the ground with nobody around to help if you kept going like that..."

They both spent an awkward moment considering one another's words and searching for some way to relieve the uneasy atmosphere. Eventually, Elsword kicked at the floor and looked up.

"It's fine... I was gonna try something different anyway."

Aisha turned to face him, confused. "What do you mean?"

"I'm doing fine with sword stuff right now..." Elsword clenched his jaw, trying to rid himself of the electric tension in his chest before finally closing his eyes and standing firm. "I wanna learn magic."

The floors below them creaked quietly and the window rattled as a gust of frigid winter blew past. Although Aisha stared in silence, her brain was a flurry of activity and it was her turn to stand dumbstruck and in disbelief.

"Are you serious?" She let more skepticism leak out into her voice than she had intended and Elsword glowered at her.

"What?"

"No, I was just surprised..." Aisha shook her head out and blinked a few times, wondering if she had dozed off and was now trapped in an extremely vivid dream. His agitation fading, Elsword relaxed a bit and prepared himself to ask the next obvious question.

"So...how do you do it?"

"Do what?" Although it took Aisha a moment to realize what he was talking about and why he had phrased his question so vaguely, Elsword just kept staring uncomfortably at her until she finally got it. "What! You want me to teach you?" She looked around frantically as though she might find some other well practice mage in the room to suggest in her place but the only one she found was on the other side of a mirror. Elsword's unease was growing as Aisha stalled for time and he scowled.

"Fine, if you don't want to do it, I'll figure out something else."

"No! I can do it!" Aisha glared at him adamantly though with no more confidence than she had the moment before. Straining her memory, she tried to recall the very first things she ever learned as a child. Gradually, her early lessons came back to her as she turned over the basics of spell casting in her mind. "Okay, stand over here." She pointed to a bare spot in the center of the room, far away from the door and any furniture or fixtures. Cautiously, Elsword headed over and braced himself, looking as though he expected to be hit with a boulder or fireball at any moment. Moving in front of him, Aisha breathed in and held out her left hand. As she raised it to her eye level, a small flame sprouted above her palm and gave off a warm glow.

"If you can figure out how to hold fire, everything else will be easy."

Elsword glared at her. "Yeah, cause holding fire is easy. Normal people do that all the time."

Aisha sighed. "Close your eyes and try to imagine a tiny flame in the palm of your hand. Magic is all about getting your will to act on the forces of nature. It's like asking the fire to be there in your hand, not yelling at it to do what you want."

Reluctantly, Elsword closed his eyes and held out his hand, trying his best to picture a sweltering flame swirling between his fingers. After a few seconds, he felt a faint heat stirring over his palm and he peeked out to see if he had a fire yet. Instead he saw Aisha flipping through the pages of a dusty tome.

"How long is this gonna take?" Elsword grumbled as he held his empty hand out in front of his face.

"I don't know, but probably a while." Aisha sat down at her desk slipped a few dried reeds between the pages of a slim grimoire. "After you spend a while focusing, you'll get frustrated and you have to keep going, and then you'll get discouraged, and then you'll just feel like it'll never happen, and once you get past that your mind should be clear enough to hold fire."

More tan a little irritated, Elsword glared, his eye twitching and his palm still empty. After nearly an hour he had definitely gone through the frustration phase but still wasn't feeling particularly discouraged. Rather than giving up on fire, he was about to give up on consciousness and take a nap when a small flicker flashed through the room. He opened his eyes, expecting a tiny flame and instead finding, the same as ever, an empty palm. From the corner of the room, however, Aisha was staring intently at his hand.

"You did it!" She pushed her chair aside and rushed over.

"Wait, I did?" By now, Elsword would have been glad to finally have fire, but he was very nearly convinced that it was all a cruel trick and Aisha was just making him sit there staring at his hand as a joke. As he turned his hand over, searching for any sign of fire, a faint wisp of smoke drifted past his nose.

"I did it." Completely ignoring the scale of his accomplishment, Elsword grinned proudly and puffed his chest out. "See, this magic stuff is easy. I can do it, no problem."

Aisha nodded, somewhat disappointed in Elsword's immediate pride over such a tiny spark. "Now do it again."

Breathing deeply, he stared at his palm and concentrated. After three minutes, he started to glare menacingly at his hand as though threatening the fire would make it appear.

"Here, you're too worked up to make it on your own, just concentrate on holding it and stay calm and steady, okay?" Aisha produced a small swirl of fire in her hand and clenched her fist tightly around it. As Elsword slowed his breathing, she moved her hand over and tapped her knuckles against his. When she did, a spark leapt into Elsword's palm leaving a tiny flame hissing and crackling in his hand. Despite his best attempt to look cool and confident, Elsword was the picture of a kid who had just managed to amaze himself. Excited and undaunted, he laughed and jumped to his feet.

"Haha, yeah!" As he stood, he began to extend his fingers and give the flame more room to breath. The instant he did, the kindling spark flashed and engulfed his entire hand. Horrified, Aisha immediately clasped his hand with both of her own, extinguishing the flame and leaving them both distressed and disturbed. Aisha held his hand as they both stared and breathed heavily, the sudden alarm sending them both into a sea of adrenaline. Still astonished, Aisha stepped back and turned to Elsword, her voice stern and yet shaking.

"Magic is not easy."

Gulping, Elsword nodded slowly as he lowered his doused but slightly seared hand.

"Don't get too confident about it, or, well, or that'll happen again. Still..." Aisha returned to her desk and retrieved a slender book with dozens of reeds littered throughout its breadth. "You did pretty well, I guess." She handed the book over and Elsword accepted it with his uninjured hand. He approached it with the same level of confusion with which he would have approached a box full of bow ties and perfume.

"What am I supposed to do with this?"

Aisha placed her hands on her hips and stared straight at him. "It's your homework."

"Eh! I have to read all this?"

"Do you want to learn anything at all?" She grinned slyly. "I told you, magic isn't easy. It's not like you can just go into the woods and whack a few trees and suddenly you'll know all about it."

"Geh..." Elsword felt the bite and sting of those words and he grimaced at the tome on his lap. For a second, he felt like hurling the book at Aisha's head, but when he thought of that he remembered how well that sort of thing had worked for him in the past and, more importantly, that Rena would probably be back any minute. With only his determined obstinance outweighing his aggravation, Elsword spent the evening studying the pages of 'A book of beginner's magic for children' while Aisha poured over her thick, leather bound grimoire. The air outside their window was as frigid as ever and anyone passing by might say that the atmosphere of their room was just as cold. With Aisha sitting in the corner and Elsword facing the opposite wall, it certainly looked as though they were still bitterly at odds with one another, but inside that room, it was unmistakably warmer than it had ever been before.


	11. Relentless Pursuit

Relentless Pursuit

* * *

Boots, belts, bandolier and bow, gloves tied tightly against the wind and books bundled up in a crowded pack, sword, staff, and above all else, a dozen skins of water. Once Rena had checked over their stock of supplies, she turned to the rising sun and started off toward the desert with Elsword and Aisha alongside. With their eyes fixed forward they left Elder behind and marched toward desolate, dust covered barrens beyond.

"Oh, wait a second, I want to test something out first." Rena stopped and pulled her bow from the hook on her belt.

"What?" Elsword turned and looked to her, the haze of the early morning still clouding his eyes. "We're already three weeks behind Wally, what do you still need to do here?"

"Just come stand over here for a second." Rena pointed to a smooth spot on the road away. Still drowsy, Elsword dragged himself over to the roadside and kicked at the ground, his hands in his pockets and his eyes only half open. Once he was in position, Rena nodded and pointed to another soft patch of the road.

"And Aisha, you stand over there."

"Um, Rena..." Aisha turned back as she headed to her appointed post. "Not that I mind, but what are we doing?"

Smiling brightly in the early morning twilight, Rena pulled her gloves tight and tapped her boots against the ground. "Well, I've been practicing a trick I heard about a long time ago. See, if you pluck a bow string just right, you can make the air around you vibrate really quickly." She drew her fingers across her bow and a faint, silvery string materialized just across her fingertips. When she let go, the string vanished and a low, soft tone spread through the air as if a dull iron bell had just been struck.

"...Can't it wait?" Elsword fought the sleep in his eyes as he tried to be upset, but in the end he was only able to manage weariness.

"It'll just take a second. Stand there- oh... hm..." Rena paused, placing her forefinger to her lips and looking to the sky. "No, actually, I need you both to run at me like you're going to attack."

Aisha smiled uncomfortably as she took her place on the far side of the road. "Where exactly is this going?"

Rena smiled and aimed her bow overhead. "Don't worry about it, just run at me."

Grumbling and blinking the sleep from his eyes, Elsword nodded and looked to Aisha. Sighing, she finally gave in and the two of them rushed toward Rena. As they approached, she drew back her bowstring, closed her eyes, and released. Aisha's eyes went wide as a burst of wind blew back her hair, lifting her from the ground and throwing her back into the forest. She fumbled for her wand as she tumbled through the air and just barely managed to right herself, floating gently to the ground some twenty yards from Rena.

"Are you okay!" Her voice on the verge of panic, Rena rushed over to the roadside and called out to Aisha. "I'm so sorry! That was only supposed to push you back a little bit."

"It's... okay..." Aisha stumbled back to to the road, shaken and slightly nauseous. Once Rena had confirmed her safety, she rushed over to Elsword who had fallen flat on his back and looked as though he had just woken from a nightmare.

"Elsword, are you alright?"

"Yeah..." He took a slow, deep breath and coughed a bit, rolling onto his side and pushing himself up to his feet. Though he was scowling as he stood, the moment he saw Rena's face, worried and distraught, his agitation faded and he glanced into the forest. "It was kind of fun, like flying, I guess..."

Though his lie was obvious, Rena took it as a sign of his safety and sighed lightly.

"Let's not try it again though, okay?" She smiled awkwardly as Aisha stood behind her, staring in disbelief at Elsword's response. As soon as they had brushed the dust from themselves, they set their feet toward the west once again. With the sun rising over the city at their back, their towering shadows marched toward the barrens, the desert, and beyond it, somewhere in the vast, breathless world, the El.

Even in the dead of winter with the freezing air clinging to her cheeks, Aisha wasn't surprised to feel the cool tingling of sweat on her forehead. Based on the maps they had received from Hoffman, the barren wastes underfoot stretched farther than a day's travel for most caravans. Past that point, a small mountain pass would take them into the desert surrounding Bethma, the only outpost in the otherwise desolate wilds. As Aisha ran through the blustering winter wind, she wished with every step that they had brought along horses for this leg of the journey even though she knew that was a firm impossibility. With El crystals so scarce, every spare stone was given to the refugees in Elder so that they might return home, leaving none large enough to encompass a single horse, much less three. Because of that, and because finding food and water in the wastelands around Bethma was less likely than finding Ruben's El unguarded in the middle of a field of flowers, Aisha, Rena, and Elsword had to carry a week's supply of food and water as they made their trek across the dust covered plains. Their pace, however, was set by a certain enthusiastic knight who insisted that they run until nightfall to make up for lost time.

"Wait!" Rena called out over the whistling wind. "It looks like there's somebody on the ground up ahead!"

The three of them quickly slowed to a stop as they watched the lump of glimmering steel just yards away. With the light of El glowing too faintly for anything to live, they approached plainly but with caution.

"It looks like someone in armor... is that-" Aisha neared the body and immediately gasped. A pool of red cushioned the head of a knight who, judging by his tabard, was one of Wally's royal guard. There was only one visible wound on his body but it was more than enough to kill a dozen times over. The knight's head was crushed inward, his helmet bent and torn as though it was caught in the claws of a massive beast and squeezed until it was little more than pulp. The already frigid air froze over as Elsword and Aisha stood over the corpse, their eyes wide and their mouths agape. Seeing the state of the body and of her companions, Rena moved quickly and knelt alongside the fallen knight, pulling his tabard over his face and tucking it behind the remnants of his head. Rising to her feet, she turned and took a step toward the empty plains ahead.

"Come on, we've got a long way to go before nightfall." As she headed off, Aisha and Elsword collected themselves, nodding and hurrying to her side. They left, the light of El leaving with them as they carried on toward the desert. In the absence of air and El, the fallen knight lay in repose, forever frozen in the stagnant wastes.

* * *

Far to the south, the snow covered lands of Velder drifted quietly into an early evening. Though the sun was still overhead, the soldiers on patrol outside the capital were hard pressed to find it through the dense sea of silver clouds above. A pair of soldiers weary from the cold and their eight hour watch sat atop the garrison's outer wall, searching the city and sky for anything that could help them pass the time. To their dismay, all they found was an endless blanket of white, laid gently over rooftops and alleyways and abbreviated only by the flickering warmth of a hearth fire peeking out from frosted windows.

"D-Damn, how much longer are we gonna have to stare at snow fallin' on our faces?" One shivering guard shook the snowflakes form his helmet and fought the chattering of his teeth. Alongside him, another soldier brushed off her gauntlets and wrapped a hand firmly around her pike.

"Well, rejoice!" She turned to him, her voice tinged with glad mockery, "If you look through the window of that big house over there, you can see a family sitting down to... oh, it looks like chicken soup and hot cocoa with warm bread."

Her partner sniffled and glared at her. "...I hate you."

"Yes and I hate hearing you complaining for ten hours straight." She gave a jeering smile before turning back to the field of ice below.

"Seriously? What's your problem with-" The sniffling soldier's voice was quickly drowned out by a loud roar just as the wall on which he stood was enveloped by a massive shadow. Above them, a massive ship descended from the clouds and hovered in the air, its bulk supported by propellers and turbines and other mechanisms completely unknown to the soldiers of the Velder garrison.

"W-What the hell is that!"

Before his desperate cry could be answered, the air flashed red with fire as the nearby guard tower crumbled, its neighbors soon following in a series of violent explosions. As the remaining soldiers scrambled for cover, the ship's hull opened and dozens of masked mercenaries poured out from it, sliding to the ground on thick black cords and landing atop the garrison wall. The sniffling soldier clambered to his feet and readied his sword only to find his partner already standing in front of him. She turned and glanced at him over her shoulder.

"Get word to the commander! We'll hold them off here!"

"Like hell you will!" His loudest shouts could only barely reach her ears over the howling engines of the airship above them. Still, despite the deafening noise, he heard her sarcastic quips clearly.

"Yeah, you're right! I was gonna go myself, but you're way better at running away than I am!"

"Heh... idiot." Holding back a bitter laugh, he nodded and turned to the remnants of the nearest tower. As the garrison's soldiers fought and fell before an ever increasing number of mercenaries, the sniffling soldier slid down the crumbled mass of a fallen tower and ran as hard as he could, cutting through the snow as he barreled toward the palace. Behind him, shouts and screams were eclipsed by the shrill, piercing shriek of artillery falling to the ground. Keeping his head fixed forward, he rushed through the empty streets, shouting warnings to the citizens settling down to dinner in their homes as he went. It wasn't much, but he was about to accomplish something for his country, some semblance of achievement in an otherwise lackluster career when he suddenly stopped. Someone had grabbed his right arm and held it tight, keeping him firmly in place.

"Let go of me! There's no time and I've got to get word to the palace!"

His plea was met with silence. As he turned back, he saw that what was wrapped around his arm was not a hand, and it was clearly not human. A sharp metal claw held his arm and squeezed, easily tearing through his armor and crushing it against his skin. As his screams of agony echoed through the streets, the owner of the inhuman arm stepped out from the shadows and stared coldly into the soldier's eyes. Struggling to free himself, the soldier reached for his sword only to be thrown to the ground as if he were a bundle of rags. The stranger approached him, leveling a sword at the soldier's throat while his metallic, inhuman arm trembled and shook with anticipation. With a swift thrust, the tip of the blade touched the pavement, a pool of blood spilling out as it pierced the soldier's neck. Pulling his sword out sharply, the stranger turned and headed toward the Palace gates.

"No need. They'll know soon enough."


	12. Time and Again

Time and Again

* * *

"Behind you!" Aisha called out to Rena as the sands shifted around her. With the ground beneath her feet giving way, Rena dove forward just as a huge claw shot from the sand and snapped at her heels. Within seconds, a pair of colossal scorpions emerged from the earth and surrounded them, moving in slowly with their tails raised high. Elsword and Aisha drew their weapons and backed up to where Rena knelt with her bow at the ready, glancing between the two pairs of pincers closing in on them and looking for any opening in their guard.

"Ah, I've heard about these." Rena perked up and smiled to herself cheerfully. "It's okay, when they get this big, they normally aren't too poisonous."

Raised just above their eye level, the scorpions' tails swayed menacingly as they approached, their stingers the size of a spearhead and just as sharp. Aisha's eyes went wide and she turned to Rena in protest. "I'm pretty sure that's not what we have to worry about!"

Rena ignored her apprehension as she rose to her feet. "Oh, and try not to hurt them. They're just animals trying to find food, after all."

"Are you serious?" Elsword glared at her skeptically and Rena smiled awkwardly.

"Well, I did say 'try'..."

As they stood debating with one another, the scorpions lunged forward, snapping their claws and thrusting their tails into the ground. It took each of them a moment to realize that they'd missed their prey entirely. By the time they saw their own empty claws, Rena was already yards away and firing a volley into their eyes. Shielding themselves with their arms, they charged toward her blindly and quickly fell to their feet as Elsword slammed his blade across their backs. Before they could get to their feet, he slid around behind them as Aisha rushed to their flank. Exchanging a quick glance, they each hurled a massive burst of flame toward the addled scorpions and the smell of pungent scent of burnt hair and charred shells filled the air. Everyone stood back as the smoke cleared, waiting anxiously and expecting to see a pair of smoldering corpses.

"Heh, that was easy..." Elsword grinned faintly and cocked his head to the side, scratching the sand out of his hair. Relaxing, Aisha sighed and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

"Is everybody-" Just as she turned to survey their wounds, the blackened beasts rose and charged toward her as she let out a sudden shriek. Immediately, she spun her wand around her wrist and swung it down hard, sending a huge black stone spinning through the air and into the ground between the scorpions sending them both flying. Scrambling to stand on their spindly legs, the traumatized scorpions finally scurried off into the distance, burying themselves in the sand some hundred yards away. As the massive, jagged rock she had summoned sank into the sand, Aisha smiled awkwardly.

"Is everybody alright?"

Elsword blinked, shaking his head out to dismiss his momentary awe. "Yeah."

"Yup, I think we're all alright." Sighing fondly, Rena stretched her arms out over her head and turned her eyes to the fiery sky painted by the setting sun. "It looks like we've only got a few minutes of daylight left. Let's go find a nice rock to set up camp." She smiled brightly enough for all three of them which was convenient since neither Aisha nor Elsword were looking forward to another night of sleeping on slate, even if it was better than having a bedroll full of sand. Fortunately, they didn't have to trek far to find their lodgings for the night and they managed to get a fire going just as the sun retreated beyond the far mountains. The desert air was full of the light of El from the mountains and canyons nearby, giving them a sense of relief and a clear view of the sparkling night sky. Once they had a healthy fire and full bellies, Rena grabbed her sleeping bag and hopped over to the far side of the campsite.

"Ah, I'm so worn out~" She forced a yawn and smiled, waving to Elsword and Aisha as she laid out her bedding. "Goodnight!"

"Goodnight...?" Aisha waved back, confused. "Isn't it still early for that?"

Elsword shrugged as he pulled a slender tome from his pack. "Let her sleep if she wants to."

Aisha bit her tongue, slightly annoyed by Elsword's curt response but not willing to start a fight over it at this hour. Instead, she grabbed her own grimoire and opened it to the last page she had read, still not even half way through its bulk after weeks of study. With the fire crackling nearby and the moon overhead, the evening passed peacefully and she was grateful for the genuine calm. Despite the near absolute silence and stillness of the barrens, there was something deeply unnerving about the lands without El. Even though she knew she would be safe as long as she held onto the crystal in her bracelet, she couldn't get herself to relax when death was literally within arm's reach.

As the night wore on, the tranquility Aisha had grown so fond of was ever more frequently disrupted by grunts and grumblings of frustration from the other side of the fire. Resigning herself to a scarce forty-seven pages of progress, she closed her grimoire and walked over to Elsword.

"What're you making so much noise for?"

He scowled and frantically flipped back and forth through a half dozen pages. "The stupid book stopped making sense!"

Aisha leaned over his shoulder. "What part? Let me see."

Elsword kept a hold on the book, pouring over a page and gritting his teeth in frustration. "The whole part. It says you can make swords from magic and it sounds really cool, but then they don't explain it and they just have a lot of pictures with messed up math all over them."

"Oh, those are the incantation formulas. It's just like algebra."

"Like what?" Elsword looked at her as though she had just lost her grip on sanity. Granted, he looked at her with that expression frequently, but this time he really meant it. Frowning, Aisha sat down next to him and pulled a stub of charcoal from a case in her pocket.

"Algebra. You know, math with numbers and letters and symbols?"

Elsword blinked, the skepticism in his eyes unchanging. Aisha sighed, disheartened. "Alright, let's ignore that for now..." She pulled out a piece of parchment and started scrawling notes across it. "The four base elements are easy to conjure just by concentrating on them, but if you want to do more complex things, you need a formula for it, and that formula is the incantation."

"So I just need to say some stuff to make it work?" Elsword grimaced, glaring at the diagrams before him with contempt. "Why don't they just put the words down there then?"

"Are you crazy? That'd take up a hundred pages for every spell!" Aisha shook her head to calm herself, remembering that she was speaking to someone who had just started learning magic within the past month. "If you had just one incantation, it'd be the exact same magic every time, and you'd have to memorize a different incantation whenever you wanted to use the spell in a different way."

"...huh?"

"...okay... like this..." Aisha handed over the parchment she'd been scribbling on and began explaining the process of incantation formulas and how they helped to focus your intent, all the while struggling to keep herself from pushing Elsword into the fire each time he shouted at his grimoire in frustration. For another two hours, they worked through magical theory and Elsword's stubborn irritation at its difficulty, whiling away the night until the kindling for the fire was completely spent. Mentally and physically exhausted, Elsword sauntered off to his sleeping bag and turned in for the night, leaving Aisha to toil over her bedroll, fluffing it in a vain attempt to escape the inevitable discomfort of laying on solid rock for eight hours. In most other instances, her aggravation over her sleeping arrangements might be unremarkable but in this case, despite having bickered with Elsword for hours, it was the only thing bothering her as she grumbled and fussed over the placement of her pillow. After a flurry of tossing and turning, she finally managed to find a single, marginally agreeable position and drifted off to sleep beneath a sea of stars.

"uuuhhh..." Elsword blinked, his eyes unwilling to open as he rolled onto his side. The night was still in its prime with the moon hanging high overhead, casting pale shadows across the sand and bathing the mountains in a strangely tranquil glow. Rubbing his sore shoulders, Elsword climbed up to his feet as quietly as he could, surveying their campsite and finding Aisha sleeping comfortably a few feet away. On the other side of the rock, however, Rena's bedroll was thrown open and empty. Scanning the surrounding area, it didn't take long for him to spot her; atop a high outcropping, outlined in silver, Rena sat and gazed out at the desert. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Elsword plodded over and clumsily climbed up to meet her.

"Can't sleep?" She spoke into the chill desert breeze, keeping her eyes on the sands below. In response, Elsword only nodded, mumbling something incoherent as he moved to sit next to her.

"Are you okay? It sounded like you were having a nightmare a few minutes ago, or maybe fighting a bear." She smiled, fainter and gentler than her usual bright, ecstatic grins. Shaking his head out, Elsword looked out onto the dunes and tried to remember what he'd seen in the moments before he woke up.

"No, I was just training..."

Rena giggled faintly. "Training even in your sleep? Don't you train enough already?"

"No way..." He gathered a handful of tiny pebbles from around his legs and started tossing them down into the sand. "I used to train ten hours a day when I was-" He paused, staring off into the night.

"Hm?" Rena turned, finding Elsword's face solemn and still.

"It wasn't a dream about training, it was about my sister..." He dropped the rest of his pebbles at his side, drawing his knees up and resting his elbows on them.

"Oh?" Rena turned back toward the soft shadows on the sand. "I didn't know you had a sister. What's she like?"

For a while, Elsword was quiet, staring vacantly as a flood of memories washed over him. What could he say about about her? What could he tell Rena so that she would understand why Elsa was so important to him? That she had taught him everything about being a knight since he was a child? That she was the only family he'd known his entire life? That for the longest time, she had been somewhere else, somewhere in the world, somewhere that was not here with him... In the end, he choked up a bit and could only manage a single sentence.

"She's really strong..."

Rena closed her eyes and considered his vague, awkwardly delivered answer. It was clear to her that there was a lot more than that to his sister, but she felt that now was not the time to press him any further. After a moment, Elsword collected himself and resumed showering pebbles down on the dunes below.

"Hey, Rena... why did you two come along?" His question sounded far more accusatory than he had intended and, for just a second, Rena looked as though she had been punched in the gut. Seeing her suddenly downtrodden, Elsword quickly corrected himself. "Wait, no, not like that... I just mean... You two aren't from Ruben, and you were just passing through when the El got taken."

Relaxing, Rena smiled faintly. "You mean aside from helping out the hundred or so people who can't live in their own homes anymore?"

Elsword shook his head. "No, I get that... but weren't you already headed somewhere else when that happened?"

"Ah..." Turning back to the desert, she studied the outlines of the distant mountains as she pondered her response. "It wasn't anything important. I just decided to go off on a trip somewhere, you know?" She grinned cheerfully. "But, even though it's because the El was stolen, and even though it's been pretty rough so far, I'm glad I'm with you two instead of just wandering around alone."

Elsword nodded, glancing aside. "Yeah..."

Rena giggled lightly to herself at his awkward reply, watching him blush lightly from the corner of her eye. Over the past few weeks, she had come to realize that there was something strangely satisfying about making Elsword and Aisha blush awkwardly.

_It's probably because they're both the type that hates to admit how they really feel about things._ She brushed her hair behind her ear and held it steady against the whispering night wind as she mused to herself. Staring out across the desert as a chill winter breeze swept away the tops of the dunes, Rena and Elsword passed a few minutes in silence and calm before a soft, low snore floated through the air.

"Aisha must-" Rena turned to the side only to find Elsword asleep, his head resting on his arms and his face quiet and peaceful. She smiled, leaning back on her hands and gazing up at the shimmering sky above her.

"I really am glad though... doing all of this alone was hard enough when I was your age, and it hasn't gotten any easier..."

"Rrawrglgh" Elsword thrashed about, swinging his arms through a tangle of blankets as he sat up. A sudden flash of sunlight spilled over his face, forcing his eyes shut as he raised a hand to shield himself.

"It's about time you got up!" Aisha stood at his bedside and shoved a bundle of pickled meat and bread toward him. "Hurry up and eat, we're about to leave you behind."

"Mrrmghg..." He grabbed his breakfast and shoved it into his mouth, drowning out his answer as he kicked away his bedroll and pulled on his boots. Stumbling into most of his gear and nearly choking on a chunk of hard bread, he gathered his supplies and brushed the dirt and sand from his clothes.

"Alright, I'm ready!" He returned Aisha's scowl, stomping off ahead of her. "Wait..."

"What is it?" Rena tilted her head and looked at him curiously. Elsword looked up to the outcropping and clearly remembered falling asleep there last night but not how he ended up back on the ground beneath a pair of blankets. He shook his head, dismissing the mystery as he checked back over the campsite to make sure they hadn't left anything behind. With the sunlight warming the crisp winter air, they set off through the desert as Elsword and Aisha chatted and bickered about incantation formulas and their necessity every step of the way. Far sooner than they had expected, they reached the end of the sands and the start of a ragged, weather worn ridge. Rallying, they hurried up its slope and stood tall atop its crest. In the valley below lay their destination, surrounded by dusty red earth and roaring blue rivers and bustling with life: Bethma gorge.


	13. The Wailing Canyon

The Wailing Canyon

* * *

"Move it! We need twelve more tons loaded up by the end of the week!" A haggard old knight shouted over the rumbling and crashing of hammers and drills as the crumbling of stone echoed through the dense, humid underground air. "God! It's like they don't hear a word... Get moving!" He growled his orders into the mouth of a narrow mine shaft, his words racing through the darkness to reach the unseen workers toiling in the deep. Seeing and hearing little change in the miners' pace, the knight shook his head and wiped the dirt and soot from his brow. Shedding his gloves and donning a cloak, he retreated to the faint light of the surface world for a breath of the dry desert breeze. As he stepped into the sun, a massive blast rang out and the ground trembled, the result of the increasingly aggressive excavations going on beneath his feet.

The shock of the blasting charges startled a falcon perched atop the mine's entrance, setting its wings into motion as it took to the wind. Whistling against the rocks, the crisp canyon breeze brushed over the hundred shades of red and brown that painted the ragged layers of the canyon wall. It stirred the surface of the dark, muddied river that wound through the canyon bed as it swept across the cliffs and crags, carrying away the errant pockets of sand lingering along the canyon wall. As the wind died down, a gentle veil of sand spilled over into the canyon and trickled down its side, flowing from rock to rock and trickling across an old, worn wooden sign that welcomed visitors to the town of Bethma.

Weary from four days of travel through desert and desolation, Elsword, Aisha, and Rena passed beneath Bethma's welcoming signpost, their legs heavy and their energy spent as they arrived. Though they had arrived in the middle of the afternoon, the streets were nearly empty and the town was quiet save for the sound of the rushing river below. As they made their way into the market square, a gruff elderly across the street stopped and stared at them warily. Rena smiled and waved at him and he scoffed, dropping his head and walking off toward the saloon without looking back.

"Ah, well, I guess it's still not the friendliest place." Rena's hand fell to her side as she looked around, taking note of the empty streets and the shuttered windows on every home.

"Where is everyone?" Aisha glanced down the road and then to the river. There were a handful of children down by the riverbed and perhaps a half dozen adults in the distance, but for the most part, there was no sign of Bethma's nearly six thousand residents.

"All the shops look empty." Elsword glared at the empty stalls and boarded up doors that littered the market square, their keepers and wares nowhere in sight. He scowled, searching for anyone they could interrogate about Lord Wally, his nasod, or even just a hunk of bread.

Noticing the uncertainty of her companions, Rena looked toward the river in dismay. "It wasn't like this when I was here last. Bethma's a mining town, so there are always tons of people trading metals and ore and the place is full of miners and craftsmen. I wonder what happened here..." She paused a moment and then turns to Elsword and Aisha. "The town's run by a Sheriff instead of a mayor so they should be able to tell us what's going on and if Wally passed through. It looks like there might be some people down by the river as well..."

Aisha looked around and considered the situation. "We should probably all take different parts of the city and ask around... but eventually we'll need to find a place with food and water too." Her eyes fell as the dry air stung at her parched throat.

"Fine, let's go someplace with food. There should be people there, anyway." Elsword grumbled, not particularly at anyone or anything other than his own hunger. While he and Aisha looked around for a tavern or restaurant or bakery, a devious smirk spread over Rena's face and she slowly backed away, careful not to alert them until she was near the end of the street.

"Okay! I'll go talk to the Sheriff then and I'll meet you guys later! Have fun!" She hopped down the uneven steps to the lower level of the city while Elsword and Aisha stood and stared, too stunned by her sudden retreat to even call after her. Huffing and frowning, Aisha crossed her arms and glared at the end of the road.

"Alright, let's go."

* * *

Rena's walk across the lower levels was just as quiet as the upper city had been and the few people she met on the street did little more than nod and pass her in silence. As the cool winter breeze stirred up small clouds of dust around her feet, Rena carried on, watching the children play along the riverside as she crossed in front of the city's stables and arrived at the office of Bethma's Sheriff. With the door open, she carefully poked her head inside and looked around. The front of the building seemed to be some sort of waiting room, or perhaps a detention area, and though there was no one around, Rena decided to hop in and look around for any Sheriffs that might be hiding inside. As soon as she crossed the threshold, a shrill panic rang through the air.

"But Stella, you have to send someone else! Go yourself if you have to, but do something!" The voice of a desperate man filled the office and spilled out into the street as Rena stepped inside. Another voice, calm and stern, answered his plea.

"Listen, we've sent twelve men there already... It's a half-day's walk to get there and an hour back on the river, but there's been no word from any of them since last week. I'm not sending anyone else on a one-way trip to check out _your_ problem."

"No, Stella, please! You don't understand, if we don't get the mine running again, I'll lose my contracts with Velder, and if I do that, I'll go out of business, and if I go out, the whole city goes out! Do something!"

A loud thud echoed through the building as a fist slammed against the wall. "Shut up and sit tight. We can't do anything about it right now, we'll just have to wait till we can gather up a bigger group to check it out. Hell, if you're so worried about goin' out of business, go check it out yourself."

"Nnnn... Fine! I'll take care of this myself!"

"Damn, that took ya long enough. Now get goin'! I got my hands full with a hundred other things and no time to deal with your mess."

As the arguing subsided, a well dressed man stormed out of the hallway, his face full of anger and apprehension as he stomped through the office, ignoring Rena and slamming the door on his way out. Once he had gone, Rena smiled awkwardly to herself and headed down the hall.

"Excuse me... is the Sheriff in?"

"Hm? Who's there?" The stern voice from earlier called out to Rena as she entered the nearest open room. Leaning back in her chair with her boots propped up on the corner of her desk, the Sheriff glanced sidelong at Rena and dropped her feet to the floor.

"I was wondering if you could help me with a few things." Rena smiled warmly, "I'm on my way through town and I'm looking for someone who might have come through here a few weeks ago."

"Well then you might already be outta luck." The Sheriff rose to her feet and held out her hand. "I'm Stella, the Sheriff, if you didn't already figure that out."

Rena took her hand and exchanged introductions as they both took a seat and Stella returned her feet to their post at the corner of her desk. Staring off into the corner, Stella searched through her memory and frowned. "See, if you were lookin' for somebody who was here say, last Tuesday, we'd be fine, but anything a few weeks past and you're outta luck. So many people came in and out of town back then, if you pulled a dozen of em' aside I'd not recognize a one."

"Ah, that's okay..." Rena hid her disappointment with an uneasy smile. "Why is the town so empty now then?"

Stella sighed. "Mine's gone quiet. That's the only business we do here, and we do a lot of it. We take about two tons from the mine upriver to the market every week and about three quarters of the townsfolk do some sorta work there. A few weeks ago, the shift that was workin' there never came back. So, I sent a few men out there to check and they've been gone almost three weeks now. The whole thing's got us in a tizzy, along with everything else goin' wrong around here."

"Everything else?" Rena's smile faded as she considered the scale of Bethma's distress.

"We got word last week that Velder's bein' attacked and needs more supplies, and of course we're all stopped up and can't get any to them. On top of that, we got mercenaries that act like pirates and storm into town, drinkin' all the good booze and eatin' our food and takin' whatever they please without payin'. Hell, we even got people sayin' they've seen nasod out in the valley... not that I believe it, but it feels like, at this point, if it's bad, it's gonna happen to us. Sorry we can't be much help to you, but help is one of our major deficits these days."

"No, that's-" A sudden spark ignited a fuse in Rena's brain and her eyes went wide. "Wait, when exactly did you stop hearing from the mine?"

Stella blinked. "It was just a day over three weeks ago. Why?"

Rena shot up to her feet and planted her palms on Stella's desk. "And when did people say they saw a nasod in the valley?"

"That was about a fifteen days ago..." Stella eyed Rena suspiciously. "Just what're you lookin' for, anyway?"

Standing straight and lowering her voice, Rena revealed the object of her search. "A giant El crystal was stolen from a forest in the North, and the man who took it might be the one who's closed off your mine."

* * *

A faint, dusty light poured through the dirt-stained windows of the local saloon as the air erupted in raucous laughter. At every table sat a ring of rowdy mercenaries, each one chugging a tall drought of ale in between fits of boisterous vulgarity. As the bartender sighed and wiped up a mess of spilled liquor on the counter, the saloon doors swung open.

"Wait, so everyone's just here drinking?" Elsword glanced around at the packed tables.

"I don't think these guys are from around here..." Aisha took note of their uniforms and the scars on their faces as she and Elsword walked up to the bar. As they squared off with the barkeep, Elsword hopped up onto a stool and leaned over, resting his arm along the bar and glaring sternly.

"You seen any knights or nobles coming through here in the past few weeks?"

The barkeep sighed and turned aside and began drying tumblers and mugs. "Kid, you're not old enough to buy liquor so get on outta here before you get in trouble."

Elsword stood up on the edges of his barstool and looked the barkeep straight in the eye. Behind him, a faint snicker rose over the crowd.

"Alright, calm down..." The bartender backed off a bit and placed a glass on the shelf behind him. "I haven't heard anything about any nobles or nothin' like that around here. If they did, there'd be a pretty big fuss over it and I can't imagine I'dve missed somethin' like that. What's it matter to you?"

"We're looking for a thief." Aisha set her arm along the bar and shot the barkeep a cold stare. "He's a noble that ran into the desert, and this is the only place he could've gone."

Another round of crude cackles from the saloon's occupying army seeped through the air.

"Listen, I can't help you if I haven't seen anything, and I ain't seen nothing but miners and mercenaries for months now."

"Then tell me where else he could go!" Aisha slammed her fist on the counter as she glowered, the steel in her eyes glimmering in the dimly lit saloon.

"Hey, take it easy there missie..." The barkeep pulled back from the counter and struggled to meet her gaze. "There's not much choice for crossin' to the south except here, unless they can get down the canyon and up the other side at some other point."

Aisha frowned, dissatisfied with his answer. At best, Wally's nasod might have been able to scale the canyon walls and they could already be in Velder by now. Undaunted by their lack of success, Elsword's eyes narrowed and he tried another approach.

"Has anybody seen any nasod around here lately?"

"Hey, barkeep..." One of the mercenaries at the nearest table called out over the din of the crowd. "Go on ahead and answer him quick this time, you don't wanna make this kid mad, he looks like he might piss himself." The soldiers gathered round the table snickered and slapped their knees, far from sober and easily amused. Elsword spun around and snapped at them.

"Shut the hell up or we can take this outside!" The mercenaries doubled over with laughter, stomping their feet on the floor and pounding their fists against the table. Annoyed, Elsword turned back to the bartender and awaited his answer.

"Well, a few kids said they'd seen some out in the valley, but that ain't nothin' to worry over. Even in the winter, the sun plays tricks on the eyes all the time and besides, it's not like a kid knows what a nasod looks like. Hell, I never even seen a picture of one myself."

Aisha perked up and stared up at the barkeep adamantly. "Where? Tell me where they saw the nasod!"

"Hehe..." The mercenaries started snickering again. "Clive, you got laundry detail this week, dont'cha? Good thing I just found ya a grade A washboard." They leered at Aisha and gave a crass chuckle.

"I said shut the hell up!" Elsword hopped down off the counter and stared down the nearest soldier who gave a toothy grin in response.

"Okay, okay, sorry kid, we'll back off your girlfriend. Hehehe..." Scowling, Elsword returned to the bar with his fists clenched. Behind him, the jeering continued.

"Eh, washboard you say...?" Another mercenary turned in his chair and looked Aisha over. "Which side's the front? I can't make no sense of this if it's flat on both sides, but I reckon it'll get the clothes washed anyway." A round of derisive cheers broke out as Aisha clenched her fist and gritted her teeth. Elsword turned to confront them again but was cut off when Aisha slammed her fist against the bar.

"Bourbon, the strongest you've got." She stared at the barkeep, her eyes ablaze. He opened his mouth to object but couldn't form the words of a refusal. Unsteady, he turned and opened the strongest spirits in the house and poured a glass, passing it to Aisha slowly. With obscenities flying through the air behind her, she grabbed her tumbler and hurled its contents into the eyes of the offending soldier.

"Ah, dammit!" Stumbling out of his chair, the mercenary rubbed his eyes and shaking his head. The rowdy laughter in the room died out and a half dozen men rose to their feet and charged at Aisha. She jumped to the side of the bar and easily dodged their clumsy tackles as Elsword punched a soldier in the gut and unlatched his sword.

"Stop this now." A cold, grave voice cut through the fierce shouts and silenced the crowd. Elsword stood with his blade in hand while Aisha held fire in each of her hands, the mercenaries had drawn their swords, clubs, and hand cannons, and they all stood motionless as a dark figure stepped through the saloon doors.

"B-boss..."

"..." He stared down at the soldier who fell backward from Elsword's punch, his face dripping with disdain. "You're a disgrace. Everyone, get your gear and move out!"

"Yes, sir!" Within moments, every mercenary in the building had filed out into the street, leaving behind a mess of half-eaten meals and overturned ale. Their leader stood at the entrance, scars covering his body and metal covering his left arm. Whatever his business there, the story that unfolded across his bloodstained armor and his baleful eyes suggested that it could not be anything admirable. For a moment, he stood facing them, his face empty and sullen as his unearthly metal arm twitched and creaked. Elsword and Aisha held their stances, unsure of whether or not they would be in for another fight. Silently, he turned to the street and left, following after the clamor of his unruly subordinates.

"Ha... ah... oh... god..." The bartender panted, pulling himself to his feet as he surveyed the catastrophe around him. Finally relaxing their guard, Elsword and Aisha turned back toward the bar.

"What jerks." Aisha rested her fists on her hips as she stared disapprovingly at the mess around her and mumbled. "I can't believe they'd talk that way to a lady..."

"Hey pops, who were those guys?" Elsword strapped his sword to his back and picked up a fallen barstool. "...and where're the waiters and cooks and stuff?"

"I-I'm the only one left..." The barkeep leaned back against his prep counter and poured himself a shot of whiskey. "Everybody else ran off when the Crows showed up. Even if they were here, I couldn't afford to pay em'. They never leave any money. They drove out all my other customers. If I don't serve em' they'll just kill me and take my entire stock..." He downed his drink in a single gulp and refilled his glass. "You two... go on, get outta here." The barkeeps eyes began to water. "You don't need to see a grown man drink hisself stupid, so go on an' get outta here." Dumbstruck, Aisha and Elsword stared for a moment at the broken man behind the counter. They turned and walked out, leaving behind a small stack of coins and Aisha's empty bottle of bourbon. With the saloon empty save for the bartender's sobs, they headed down to the lower levels to meet with Rena and find out what she had learned. Along the way, Aisha found herself saying something unexpected.

"Thanks..." She looked toward the river as they walked along the dirt covered streets.

Elsword nodded. "They deserved way more than a few punches. Why did they think they were gonna get away with talking to you like that?" His mind drifted off in daydreams, imagining what would have happened if the fight had continued for just ten seconds more. For the most part, there was a lot of fire, and, at least in his mind, Aisha cackling atop a pile of burning corpses.

Not being privy to his imaginings, Aisha was struck by his sudden, apparent nobility. Just as her mind began to wander and her cheeks took on a light blush, Rena popped out into the street and waved to them.

"Hey! Did you guys find anything?"

The three of them gathered together and walked down to the riverbank, sitting in the soft sandy soil as they discussed their findings and speculations. So far, they could only confirm rumors of isolated, human-sized nasod somewhere in the valley. Aside from that, they knew very little, though Rena had ideas of her own.

"We should go check out the mine at the end of the Canyon, I think." She pulled off her shoes and dangled her feet into the running water. Aisha nodded in agreement but Elsword merely blinked and stared.

"Huh...? Why?"

"Because Wally's probably there." Aisha laced her fingers together and stretched her arms out in front of her. "He stole the El because he said he was going to use it to make more nasod, right? Since nobody in town has heard from the mine or the miners that were there a few weeks ago, Wally probably went there to take it over. There's so much El all around this canyon, he's probably mining as much of it as he can along with all the metal he needs for making new nasod."

"Ah!" Elsword nodded seriously as Aisha's explanation finally made sense to him. "Then let's go! We've gotta hurry before he runs-"

He was interrupted by the rumbling of his own stomach. Aisha opened her mouth to speak when her own belly began to groan, leaving her blushing and glancing at the ground. Seeing the two of them so eager and yet so unprepared, Rena giggled. "Come on. Let's at least grab dinner first."  
As they climbed back toward the upper levels of the city, the sun fell behind the cliffs above and darkness stretched across the city, blanketing each building with a cool, soft shadow. With the moon now free to glow bright overhead, night descended on the gorge and its inhabitants withdrew to the confines of their homes, hovels, nests, and burrows. In the still of that night, there was scarcely any sound bold enough to disturb the tranquil silence. Traveling along the river's edge, hovering just above the rushing water, a low rumbling crept through the valley. From deep inside the northern mine, the sound of ceaseless steel and steam echoed into the night. As the evening wore on, another, more ominous sound joined the roar of rust and drills: A single, blood-chilling scream.


	14. Moments Away

Moments Away

* * *

"Nngh-" A strained groan accompanied a loud crash as the captain of the Crow mercenaries slammed into the cold steel floor of his cabin. Clutching his metal arm tightly, he gasped for breath and cringed, his body wracked with pain. Stumbling to his feet, he knocked over a table full of charts and rulers.

"I... don't-" A surge of electricity shot through his body, dropping him to the ground. Garbled words raced through his mind, a mess of commands and impulses that converged into a single, irresistible imperative.

_** Stop struggling**_.

He lay on the floor with his forehead pressed into the ground, sweat dripping from his face and chest as he fought against gravity and his shaking legs. As he climbed to his feet, his eyes darted across the room, searching for his sword as darkness closed in around him and his vision faded. He reached out blindly, faltering for a moment as his hand grazed the side of a familiar blade. With his hands trembling and his eyes failing him, he slid his fingers across the ground and found a handle. Gripping his blood-stained sword with the final measure of his fleeting strength, he clenched his teeth together and swung down at the claw on his left arm.

Ten minutes passed in silence. A heavy steel door creaked open at the end of the hallway and the cadence of a soldier's footsteps marched on toward the captain's cabin. Standing before a door that was plain, unmarked, and yet still foreboding, a gruff old mercenary reached out and wrapped his knuckles against cold steel. No response. He waited a few seconds and knocked again.

"Boss! Hey, Boss!"

Again, his own echo was the only answer to his calls.

"Hey, Raven! You in there? We're ten minutes to Velder's border!"

Slowly, a crack of light entered the captain's room as Raven gently pushed the door out of his way. Hanging at his side, the claw on his left arm was clenched firmly around the blade of his sword. His eyes were filled with ice and spite as his gaze cut into the soldier's skull.

"Fine. I'm on my way"

* * *

In the absence of day, Bethma valley had transformed into an unearthly place. The rust red of the canyon faded into a deep blue twilight, its plants and features glistening faintly in the broad strokes of moonlight that poured down into the valley, filling the frigid air with a solemn calm. The great lake in the midst of the valley lay still as glass, it's surface painted in violet and it's borders crisp and clean, framing it as the grandest piece in an organic gallery.

With a pack newly filled and feet scarcely rested for more than an hour, Aisha marched on alongside Rena as they traced the lake's shore, the abstract shadows of the moonlit canyon dancing across their faces as they walked. Ahead of them, Elsword stood atop a small outcropping and searched the valley for any sign of movement or hostility. Even in the middle of the desert, the chill of winter was too harsh for most of the canyon's inhabitant and even the hardiest snakes and lizards huddled together in their underground burrows and awaited the end of winter's siege. Once Aisha and Rena had caught up to Elsword, the three of them gathered around the water's edge and assessed their situation.

"Do you think we should stop here for the night?" Aisha glanced over Rena's shoulders at the ragged old map she held. They were nearly past Bethma lake and soon they'd be trudging through a field of jagged rocks and geysers and then along the river until they reached the mine.

"Why?" Elsword glared at her. "We'll be there in a couple hours, let's keep going."

"No, I think we should stop for now..." Rena rolled up the map and returned it to her pack. "We'll be at a disadvantage if we have to fight any nasod at night, and we don't know how long we'll have to spend searching through the mines to find Wally."

Grimacing, Elsword nodded in agreement.

"Great!" Rena grinned broadly. "Goodnight then!"

"Geh... what." Elsword stared in disbelief as Rena unrolled her sleeping bag and hopped over to a soft spot of ground, turning over and falling asleep within seconds. Shrugging, Elsword headed off to gather tinder while Aisha sighed and unpacked their last bit of firewood and piled it together. Within a few minutes, they were both seated around a crackling campfire, its glow casting their shadows across the canyon wall.

"Do elves just sleep a lot or something?" Elsword glanced over at Rena as he pulled a book from his pack.

"I don't think so." Aisha pulled out her grimoire and a sheet of parchment, laying them at her side and holding her palms out toward the fire. "She's probably just trying to be as rested as possible in case things get rough tomorrow." She pulled her hands back and rested them in her lap, wondering if she shouldn't turn in early as well. _Sleep would be great right now... but I'm still so far behind... _Aisha sighed and drew her hand across the cover of her grimoire. To her right, Elsword was mumbling an incantation under his breath and fumbling his words, ending in a frustrated grunt as he scowled at the notes Aisha had given him the night before. Despite her determination, Aisha found herself hopelessly distracted by Elsword's constant outbursts.

"Get it right or keep it down!" She stood and threw her hands down in protest.

"Shut up!" Elsword glanced away indignantly. "It's not my fault the words are so lame. What the hell's a 'bequeath' anyway?"

Aisha glared for a moment before her frustration melted into a sly grin. "Oh~? You don't know all the words? You'll have to bow your head and ask 'Miss Aisha' for help~" She laughed deviously and Elsword scowled back at her.

"Forget it." He turned his back to her and resumed mangling an elaborate incantation. "...capricious lord's dame bee's toe... rrrrgh... this doesn't make any sense!"

Stunned by his 'creative interpretation' of her notes, Aisha burst into a fit of giggles. "It's 'deign bestow'... pfft..." As she gripped her side, Elsword huffed and glared at her from over his shoulder.

Sighing happily, Aisha walked around the fire and sat down beside him. "If you don't want to say it out loud, you can just say the incantation in your head, but you'll need to get the words right first."

"That's your fault." His eyes bored through the crumpled sheet of notes Aisha had provided him with. "Your handwriting sucks, I can't read any of this."

"It's not like I can do anything about that, all I had to write with was charcoal." She closed her eyes and breathed in softly. "O solemn Auster, may thy capricious lords deign bestow upon us their ardent brand"

A small circle of light appeared in the air in front of her, shimmering as a small, translucent blade shot forth into the air and then vanished in a shower of sparks. As the glow of magic faded, a stern resolve spread across Elsword's face. Facing the waterfront, he breathed in sharply, closed his eyes, and focused his thoughts. A second later, a small ring of light glistened in the air before him. As he opened his eyes, a tiny, shimmering knife poked out of the circle before fading into the night.

"Haha, yeah!" Ecstatic, Elsword grinned and summoned another tiny blade.

"See, you got it." Aisha smiled lightly but her assurance went ignored. Enthralled by his success, Elsword continued calling forth small knives and daggers, his blades becoming brighter and steadier with each casting. Pausing for a moment, he pulled a loaf of bread from his pack and set it out on the rock beside him, summoning a small butter knife that cut off the heel in a clean slice. Triumphant, he grabbed the heel of bread and tore it in half with his teeth.

"M'm gonna uuf dis for eberyting."

Aisha glared at him, annoyed. "At least finish chewing first..."

Elsword swallowed and looked up to Aisha. "Huh? You say something?"

She shook her head and sighed. "Alright, now try making something bigger."

"Right." Elsword hopped up to his feet and turned to face the lake, taking a wide stance and closing his eyes and holding his hands out in front of him. A moment later, a circle of light formed in the air in front of him and shot out yet another tiny sliver of a blade. Grumbling, Elsword breathed in and was about to try again when Aisha stopped him.

"No, you can't do it with the same incantation, you've got to use another one!" She walked over to him, grabbing his tome along the way. "Once you form the intent, you have to channel it with the right incantation, see?" She traced the formulas along the page as Elsword looked on over her shoulder. "The words you use aren't as important as what they mean, so you can use different words if you want to as long as they mean the same thing. When you want to change a spell, you need to change the meaning of the incantation around too."

Elsword grimaced and nodded. "I kind of get it, but... why's it gotta be this complicated?"

"Oh? So you can't do it then?" Aisha smirked at him and he scoffed. Breathing in deeply, Elsword centered himself and drew his fists back to his waist. Silence. For almost a minute, nothing happened as Elsword wrestled with the flurry of words racing through his head. Then, once he finally had a grasp on his new incantation, he opened his eyes and a massive glowing ring formed over the lake, erupting in a colossal blade that sliced the surface of the water and nearly spanned the entire lake. Side by side, he and Aisha stood with their eyes wide in awe. As soon as the giant blade faded, Elsword's shock was replaced by a sudden surge of confidence.

"Heh... See? No swe-" Just as he puffed his chest out to celebrate his victory, Elsword's vision faded and his legs wobbled. A moment later, he feel forward and Aisha just barely caught him before he toppled into the water.

"Idiot! You can't use that much magic all at once yet or you'll pass out!"

"urrrrhhh..."

Aisha sighed and tried to carry him but couldn't manage to lift him. She shifted around to his back and wrapped her arms around his chest, dragging him over to where he had tossed his bedroll.

"Stupid Elsword..." Aisha blushed slightly as she pulled him across the campsite. "Why do I have to be the one to drag you off to bed?" Grumbling to herself, she propped Elsword up against a small outcropping and rolled out his bedding, pushing and pulling him until he lay flat on his back and more or less beneath his blanket. Aisha glanced down at his face, still painted with the huge grin he had just before he fainted. Brushing herself off, she rose to her feet and headed back to her grimoire, settling in for as many hours of study as she could manage before sleep overcame her.

Just after midnight, Aisha was still pouring over diagrams and formulae. With the campfire long exhausted, she read by the light of a swirling fire floating overhead as she scribbled notes and drafted incantations onto parchment. As sleep's encroaching grasp reached out to take hold of her, a soft footfall just to her right caught her attention and her drowsiness faded.

"Still up studying?" Rena's quiet, lyrical voice drifted through the night as she took a seat next to Aisha.

"I just wanted to get through this part before..." Aisha rubbed her eyes as she fought against a yawn and lost. "Before I went to bed. What about you?"

"Ah, I just couldn't sleep." Rena smiled and leaned back on her hands. "At least one of us seems to have no trouble with that." She giggled as Elsword gave a low grunt and mumbled something, flailing his hands about before collapsing quietly back onto his pillow.

"He's been doing that for the past hour..." Aisha frowned as she scrawled a line of notes.

"Well, at least the two of you seem to be getting along better now."

"No we're not." Aisha looked up from her grimoire and glared defensively, "It just takes too much energy to get mad at him every time he does something stupid."

Rena chuckled lightly and stared up at the sky, drowning in the sea of stars and moonlight overhead. "Hey, Aisha... What are you going to do once we return Ruben's El?"

"I guess..." She paused, sliding her hand over her grimoire as she considered her answer. "I don't know. I'll probably head to Velder to meet the mages there, and then go off to Fluone."

"Are you looking for something or somebody?" Rena tilted her head to the side curiously. Closing her grimoire with her right hand inside to hold her place, Aisha dropped her head back against her shoulders and gazed at the moon.

"Not... exactly. I'm just..." Another yawn interrupted her. "I'm just traveling as much as I can..." Another, smaller yawn escaped Aisha's mouth and she tried to blink the sleep from her eyes.

A bittersweet smile spread over Rena's face and she closed her eyes. "That sounds a lot like me then. Once we're done here, maybe the two of us can keep on traveling together. What do you think?"

"Mm-hmm." Aisha nodded absently.

"And maybe we can ask Elsword to come along too. After all, it's nice to have him around since he always keeps everything lively."

"Mm-hmm."

Rena turned to Aisha, grinning. "So you really want him to stick around then, don't you?" Just as she had gotten herself excited about the prospect of teasing Aisha again, she felt a light warmth fall against her. Breathing softly, Aisha had fallen asleep and toppled over onto Rena's lap. Sighing fondly, Rena reached down and stroked Aisha's hair. "Well... It would be nice, if things worked out like that."

* * *

On an island far across the sea, a whirling breeze drifted down the plains and across a steep mountainside, blowing an errant cloud through the mountain's rocky facade and through a cleanly cut steel vent. Just inside, the cloud poured into a dark, dust coated chamber and filled the air as fog. A tangle of cords and wires littered the wall, sprawling out across the steel plated floors and ceiling as they spread through the room and retreated down an adjacent corridor. Sparks flickered into the air from torn wiring, casting a pale light on the serpentine sea of cords and power lines spilling from the walls and converging in dense clusters that all led to a single, silent capsule. Though some dozens of dozens of cords and wires fed into this device, it remained entirely still, its lid bearing a thick covering of dust and debris as though it were a coffin left in the midst of burial. As the wind outside picked up, a steady current spilled into the vents and stirred up the dust and debris left behind by the years. Eventually, a strong draft swept through the halls and over the darkened capsule, clearing away the dirt and revealing its occupant. Through the murky glass, A young girl's face rested in solemn repose. Inscribed on the lid of her casket, her name: Code Eve.


	15. Reckless Flight

Reckless Flight

* * *

A fragile shard of sunlight reached over the canyon's brim, casting a clean shadow over the rust red rock and marking the eighth hour of the day. Stretching out his arms and leaning back, a tall, strapping young knight blocked the entrance to a now silent mine with his broad shoulders and a massive axe. Languishing in the shade after standing guard all night long, he surveyed his surroundings wearily as he awaited his relief and a few hours rest, too tired to even consider how long he'd been standing there or if there had always been a conspicuously man-sized bush just a few feet from him. Blinking the sleep from his eyes, he trudged over to investigate the mysterious shrubbery when a bright flash appeared just beside him. Aisha rushed forward and clenched her fist tightly, the air around her bristling with energy as she thrust her hand toward the knight's chest. Her palm erupted in a huge blast of dark energy, hurling the knight against the canyon wall and knocking him out immediately as Aisha slid backward on her heels and then dove out of sight.

"Hey, you okay out there?" A haggard old soldier called out from just inside the underground, his heavy armor clattering as he hurried outside. As soon as he emerged into the chill morning air, Rena leapt down from her perch over the mine's entrance and planted her heel onto the old knight's head, jumping backward as he faltered and fell to the ground. With both guards getting a good, quality rest, Aisha and Rena relaxed and walked over to inspect their uniforms. Within seconds, they realized that they had just found two members of Wally's royal guard. Next to them, Elsword stumbled to his feet and frantically tore the dozens of tiny branches and twigs he had tied to himself in an awkward attempt to disguise himself as an inconspicuous hedge. Taking his sword in hand, he glowered as he joined Aisha and Rena in front of the gaping maw of the earth.

"What were you trying to do there?" Aisha glared at him harshly and pulled a few twigs from the back of his head. Elsword raised a hand to brush her away and scowled.

"I was about to take that guy down when you jumped in front of me."

"And then when you throw a fireball you'll burn to a crisp too." Aisha crossed her arms as they exchanged a sidelong glances.

"Alright, come on..." Rena giggled lightly and grinned as she took her bow in hand. "You can worry over each other when we're finished here."

Renewing their focus on the task at hand, Elsword and Aisha set their eyes forward, into the dense darkness of the underground where Wally had fled and, perhaps, where he was holding Ruben's El. Breathing deeply, Rena let the gravity of their task wash away her smile and replace it with severity. Unsure of what they would encounter and whether or not they would make it out alive, she held her bow in a white-knuckled grip and reigned in her racing heart.

"Ready?"

Elsword nodded. Aisha nodded. With the chill winter wind at their backs, they stepped into the boundless shadow of the silent mine.

* * *

"Ahhglglghhh..." A coarse scream faded into a mangled groan as blood gurgled and bubbled up from a fallen soldier's throat, her uniform so thoroughly stained with blood and soot that the crest of Velder was just barely discernable. As she lay gasping for her final breath, a flurry of boots pounded into the ground around her, weaving between piles of snow and the lifeless bodies her comrades. A squad of Crow mercenaries rushed along the streets of Velder's capital, shooting and stabbing every soldier they saw until they finally reached the central square. Corpses littered the cobbled pathways leading to the grand statue of the current king, a monument that now bore as many scars as the knights who died defending it. At the statue's base, Raven stood silently and awaited the arrival of his men.

"Boss! West end is clear, but they've called for reinforcements. East end is still locked down, we've pulled back to the lower end a few blocks to the north for now. Your orders?"

Raven scowled. "Who issued the order to pull back?" His gaze cut into the trembling faces of his subordinates and the whispering wind was his only answer. He scoffed. "It doesn't matter. Three of you, come with me. The rest of you, route everyone else through the east side marketplace to flank them while we charge in the front."

"Yes, sir!"

As his soldiers marched off into the city, a loud ringing filled Raven's ears and then, suddenly, a crippling shock radiated out from his left arm.

_**We must go. **_

"Hold that order!" Raven panted as he called out across the square.

"Boss, what's wrong? You okay?"

Steadying himself, Raven's eyes flashed quickly and his claw shut into a tight fist. "We're leaving. Get everyone to the ship in ten minutes or we leave them behind."

"Y-Yes, sir!" Stunned, his soldiers scrambled to send word throughout the city, leaving Raven to march through the bloodstained streets, past the broken bodies of Velder's knights and the locked doors of homes full of frightened citizens. Staring into the northern sky, Raven faltered as another surge of electricity shot through his body and nearly sent him to his knees.

_**We must go. The El is moving.**_

* * *

Flames filled the air and breathed light into the dim tunnels as Elsword rushed toward a pair of mining nasod, slamming them into the wall with the edge of his blade and blasting them with a stream of fire until their motors seized up and thick smoke poured from their eyes. Behind him, a stout nasod with a huge drilling arm sped toward him, sparks whirling from its wrist as it thrust forward. A bright whistle cut through the dark and the nasod staggered, its arms and head dropping as a pair of arrows pierced its chest and stuck into the ground behind. With the last of the nasod in the area laying in shambles, Elsword grabbed a skin of water from his belt and drained it as he wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"It's quiet here... the nasod are just sitting around waiting for us. They can't possibly have been just sitting around doing nothing this whole time." Aisha stepped over a pile of scrap and gears to join Rena and Elsword who were standing at the mouth of a tunnel at the rear of the chamber. Scowling, Elsword held out his hand and a small flame flickered to life in his palm.

"Come on, we gotta hurry." He marched onward and Rena and Aisha followed alongside. Every inch of the mine was slick and dripping with water from a thin pipe that pumped a fine mist into the air and every passage bore the scars of aggressive excavation. Though they had been searching the mine's twisting tunnels and fighting nasod for nearly an hour, they found no sign of of Lord Wally or his soldiers, no sign of the missing miners, and no sign of the El. With each new passage filled with nasod, the fatigue of battle was slowly seeping into Elsword's legs and arms, his shoulders already sore from hitting heaps of solid metal. Just as they reached the end of another dead end tributary, a faint plea drifted through the darkness.

"...Help... anyone there... help us..."

Immediately, Rena turned and dashed back to the nearest fork in the tunnel.

"This way, come on!" She motioned to Elsword and Aisha and they hurried after her, darting past overturned mine carts and discarded pickaxes as they raced down toward the clamor of desperate cries. Just as the quiet calls rose to a clamor they were drowned out by a violent rumbling as a half-dozen nasod roared to life and charged forward. Sliding forward, Elsword dodged a sharp mining pick and closed his fist around a whirling mass of fire, punching a nasod in the chest and leaping back as the air exploded in flame and smoke. Rushing alongside him, Aisha waved her hand out and three orbs of swirling dark energy pulsed and crackled in the air before her, shocking the approaching nasod and slowly pulling them apart. As the smoke cleared and the dust settled, Rena stepped over the twitching remains of the broken nasod with an arrow drawn and aimed at the shadows ahead. Slowly, she edged forward.

"People!" Rena hopped back as an ashen man hobbled into the light, his face filthy and unshaven and his arms thin and frail. "Oh God, people..." He began sobbing and fell to his knees and as he did, dozens of others joined him from the shadows, gathering together as Rena stood staring in disbelief. Just behind her, Aisha and Elsword echoed her surprise and gazed out over the crowd of ragged prisoners.

"Please, help us, you have to help us get out of here!" A weary, raspy voice pleaded from the huddled mass as a dozen voices joined in, weeping and shouting in fear and jubilation. Lowering her bow, Rena stepped forward and addressed the crowd.

"Are you all the miners who disappeared three weeks ago?"

"Yes, they kept us here with those things watching over us!"

"The knights and those machines! They threw us down here and took over the mine."

"C-calm down..." Aisha waved her hands in front of her, trying to calm the frantic mob. "Do you know what they wanted with the mine?"

A withered old woman stepped forward and spoke up. "The ore and the El in the iron veins. They've been digging it out for weeks now and hauling it to the deep end where the tunnels open up."

Elsword's brow furrowed and his mouth twisted up in confusion. "What're they gonna do with it in the bottom of a mine? There's nowhere to go from there..."

Sighing, Rena smiled softly and her shoulders dropped. "Well, at least everyone's still okay."

A sudden silence swept over the crowd. "Not... everyone." The air grew dense and heavy as an oppressive gravity fell over everyone in the tunnel. "There were a few that tried to fight at the beginning, and a few that tried later on... They're not..." A series of short sobs accompanied a wave of cold shudders as several miners glanced back to a row of ragged blankets that covered misshapen heaps at the end of the chamber.

"Damn it!" Elsword drove his fist into the wall and blood seeped from his knuckles. Beside him, Aisha's eyes filled with fire and she clenched her wand tightly.

"...We've cleared the way out so it should be safe for you to get out of here." Rena pulled a pack from her belt and handing to the miners. "It's not much, but there should be enough food there to get you back to town."

"No!" A shrill cry came from the back of the room, its owner hunched over one of the bloodstained blankets. Sobbing deeply, he buried his face in the funeral shroud and wrapped his arms around the corpse beneath.

The withered old woman looked up to Rena in an attempt to assuage her apparent distress. "Don't worry about him... a few of us won't be strong enough to make it back. We'll wait here together until we can bring help..."

Steadying herself, Rena nodded. Soon, a stampede of frailty rushed past her, muttering their appreciation and panting as they scampered toward the surface. By the time they had fled, Elsword was already marching off into the depths of the mine. Aisha opened her mouth to call after him, to tell him to wait, but she stopped and held her tongue. This was a moment in which she could not bring herself to call for cautious procedure. Gritting her teeth together, she was just as ready to slam Wally into the ground as Elsword was. With Rena sprinting to catch up, the three of them headed through the darkness, down the winding corridors of stone and soot toward the bottom of the mine. After only a few minutes, the air began to hum and loose rocks rattled underfoot. Urged on by the rumbling earth, Elsword, Aisha, and Rena dashed down the tunnels and over debris, leaping over fallen timber and tools.

As the air filled with the deafening roar of engines and fire, they emerged into a huge open cavern, a coliseum of stone and earth that reached far into the sky and opened its ceiling wide, letting sunlight flood the air and glimmer against the battalion of nasod standing below. Suspended in the center of the room, beyond the clusters of nasod and the frantic shouts of Wally's royal guard, a massive ship bellowed and screeched as its propellers sputtered and whirled. Just barely visible beyond the mass of steel and steam, Lord Wally stood shouting inaudible orders at his knights. As soon as they noticed intruders in the area, Wally's royal guard commanded the nasod to attack while their master retreated to the confines of his craft.

Standing firm, Elsword clenched his fist and fixed his eyes on Wally's ship. Beside him, Aisha pointed her wand at the ground and was chanting furiously while Rena picked off as many nasod as she could.

"Rena, get ready!" Aisha thrust her wand into the air and a cloud of thick, putrid smoke billowed out around them. Rena immediately drew back and released her bowstring, sending the toxic gas throughout the cave with a strong burst of wind. As the corrosive cloud passed over the nasod, their joints stiffened and their legs creaked, leaving the majority of Wally's army completely immobile. Seizing the opportunity, Elsword charged ahead and cut through the remaining nasod, easily torching and smashing the smaller mining drones as he barreled toward the ship. As he approached, the last of Wally's knights quit the fight and withdrew to the bellowing vessel, leaving a thick crowd of nasod behind to secure his escape.

"Out of my way!" Elsword drove his sword into the ground and a line of shimmering circles lit up the ground, each one bursting as a shining blade shot up into the air and through the sea of iron and steel. Only yards away from the catwalk that led to Wally's ship, the crescendo of engines was abruptly overshadowed by a loud crash as a gargantuan nasod fell from the sky and landed in front of Elsword. He recognized it immediately, as did Rena and Aisha. Though its body was dull and coarse rather than slick and silvery, there could be no mistake that this was nearly identical to the nasod they had faced in the courtyard of Elder castle. Staring down the machine that nearly killed them a month earlier, Aisha and Elsword looked to one another, their eyes intense and sharp. Then, they grinned.

"Ready?" Aisha glanced to Elsword as she held her hand up beside her and a huge, howling flame sprung from her palm. He nodded, tapping his knuckles against hers and spreading the fire to his own hand and, from there, to his sword. Creaking and rumbling, the massive nasod hurtled toward them and they held their ground. As it swung its heavy arms down at them, they slid around to its side and pressed their hands into its legs, melting their gears and joints together. With its legs paralyzed, the metal beast roared and spun its arms around, flailing and punching frantically. A swift jab shot through the air at Aisha and she raised her hands, blasting the attack away with a burst of dark magic. A wide right hook hurtled through the air at Elsword and he rolled beneath it, slashing quickly as he rose and cutting through the nasod's arm with ease. Spinning and buzzing violently, the nasod began to gather electricity and its eye glowed brightly.

"No thank you. I didn't think it was that fun the first two times." Rena stood in the distance with her bow drawn, a whirlwind of energy circling her arrow as she focused on her target. When she fired, her arrow split into three brightly glowing spearheads that sped through the air and pierced the nasod's head all around, silencing its frenzy and shorting out its power supply. Before they could enjoy vengeance or victory, Wally's ship began to move, slowly rising into the air as it bent the walkway that attached it to the cavern below. Without a moment's rest, Aisha and Elsword ran with all the strength they had as Rena hurried to join them. The pathway creaked beneath their feet as it twisted and buckled, threatening to collapse and leave them stranded. Twenty yards. Fifteen. Ten. Two. As the walkway finally groaned and snapped in two, the three of them leap through the air and rolled onto the deck of the Wally's airship just as it picked up speed and rose through the opening in the cave ceiling and into the clouds.

Standing along the aft of the flying ship as it soared over Bethma gorge, leaving the land behind as it sailed through the sky and over the ocean. As Elsword, Aisha, and Rena fought the tempestuous gusts on the deck, more than a dozen nasod emerged from the hold and moved to surround them. Drawing their weapons once again, they dug their feet in and raised their guard.

"Tch." Elsword scoffed and rolled his head across his shoulders. "This looks like it's gonna get rough."


	16. Gravity

Gravity

* * *

Violent gusts whipped across Rena's face and scattered her hair into the wind. A blanket of clouds descended upon her as the airship soared into the sky, drowning the deck in a dense fog and obscuring the approaching pack of nasod. For a tense moment, Rena, Aisha, and Elsword stood with their backs together, listening to the steady rattling of gears and the sharp slicing of propeller blades. Before they could react, the deck rattled beneath them and they felt their stomachs churn. The ship dove rapidly, plummeting toward the sea and threatening to pull their feet from the floor beneath them as the nasod charged forward. Feeling the weight of her body reduced to mere ounces, Rena slid to the ground and kicked up at the nearest nasod, forcing herself back to the deck and sending the mechanical miner flying as though it were a bundle of straw. Rolling on her side, she fired a volley into a pair of nasod and knocked them over the side of the ship, hurtling through the air and into a massive propeller where they were shredded into scrap.

Following Rena's lead, Elsword kept himself low and swung toward the sky, lifting a nasod off its feet as a burst of flame engulfed its head. With every moment, the airship rolled from side to side sending everyone and everything on the deck sliding and tumbling toward the edge. As she dodged a pair of whirling drills, Aisha lost her footing and toppled backward. Unable to stop herself, she flew off into the air and over the ocean.

"Aisha!" Elsword dove to the ground and reached out in vain as she fell toward the sea. Chanting furiously, Aisha thrust her wand into the air and disappeared in a brilliant flash. In moments, she had teleported a dozen times and landed back on the deck of the airship only to find herself in the worst possible position; she had landed face down and surrounded by a dozen rumbling nasod. Rolling to her feet, she drove her wand into the deck and summoned a huge glowing sigil that immediately erupted in a flurry of chains, wrapping tightly around the legs and feet of everyone on the deck, nasod included. Glowering indignantly at the struggling machines, she pulled her grimoire from her side and held it open, its pages fluttering violently in the wind. As Aisha chanted, the pages abruptly stopped, holding fast as an ominous seal emerged from them.

"O shadow of death, descend."

The air flashed and darkened as the ghastly form of a terrifying spectre flickered overhead. For a moment, nothing happened. As Aisha closed her grimoire, however, the nasod all around her began to crumble and shatter, their bodies simply dismantled and scattered into the wind. Gasping for air, Aisha fell to her knees just as the ship ceased its breakneck descent and found a level path. With the shackles around their legs vanishing, Elsword and Rena rushed over to Aisha's side to help her up.

"Are you alright?" Rena gripped her hand tightly as she pulled her to her feet, her face marred with distress.

"Yeah, I'm okay..." Aisha pressed her free hand to her forehead as her feet wobbled beneath her. "I don't think I like flying though..."

Beside her, Elsword stared gravely, his eyes fixed on her as she steadied herself. Still a bit uneasy, she stared back at him, confused.

"What?"

"..." For a moment, they stood silent as the wind whistled by. Just when Aisha had opened her mouth to urge Elsword to say something, he turned away and mumbled into the sky.

"That was pretty cool, back there..."

Aisha's eyes went wide as she stared, stunned at what she thought she'd just heard. "W-What was that?"

"...Nevermind." Elsword stomped off toward the nearest door, avoiding Aisha's eyes as best he could while the three of them gathered around and cautiously entered into the hold.

"At least we can finally get out of-" Aisha stopped short, the shock of their surroundings cutting her off sharply. Where they stood was not simply a cabin or a cargo hold but rather, a working foundry. Below them, dozens of nasod smelted and stirred piles of ore, separating their metals and shaping them into ingots. Preoccupied with their task, the nasod completely ignored the intruders and carried on their business, chipping away at small boulders and stoking the fires of a howling furnace.

Elsword grimaced. "All this stuff's from the mine, just to make more nasod."

"If that's the case, then it looks like Wally's planning to make thousands..." Rena surveyed the foundry, its workers busy sorting through the mounds of rock and rubble, chipping away at them until they surrendered their treasures. From the corner of the room, a faint glimmer caught her eye. Resting at the edge of the room, a small cart was nearly overflowing with El crystals and moving slowly into an adjacent corridor.

"What are they doing with so much... Oh!" Rena clapped her hands together and smiled brightly. "This is great. We might be able to get everything taken care of by the end of the day."

"Huh?" Elsword glared at her. "What're you talkin' about?"

"You two go follow that cart full of El stones, they might be taking it to where they're holding Ruben's El." She pointed at the pile of tiny El crystals and drew her finger up toward the wall as if to indicate some unknown point in the distance. "I'll go find the bridge and throw the pilot out, and then we'll just hijack the ship and use it to bring the El back to Ruben."

"Ah!" Aisha gasped once she understood the elegance of Rena's solution. They would use the very machine Wally had built to transport the El to carry it back to its rightful place and in the meantime, they could tie up Wally and his guards, destroy all the nasod, and set everything right again. In fact, the sheer elegance of it troubled her and she couldn't bring herself to be optimistic. Nothing had been simple so far, and she couldn't help but feel that this time would be any different.

"Wait, how do you know you'll be able to fly this thing?" Elsword looked to Rena skeptically.

"Heheh... I was a sailor for a few years when I was younger." Rena held up two fingers in a sideways 'V' and used them to frame her right eye as she winked. Blinking, Elsword was at a loss.

"...What?"

"That's probably the best plan for this situation..." Aisha agreed pensively, a nagging doubt lingering in the back of her mind.

"Alright then, when you guys find the El, go after Wally. He probably won't be on the bridge, and he might try to get away again if he realizes that we've taken control of the ship."

Elsword and Aisha nodded as Rena hopped over the nearby railing and onto a pile of gleaming copper. "Good luck!" She smiled and waved as she leapt across the nasod production line and ducked through an open doorway.

"Let's go." Elsword dashed down the stairs and onto the foundry floor, chasing after the cart full of El crystals. Still gathering herself, Aisha shook her head out in an attempt to dismiss her anxiety and hurried along after him.

* * *

Feet racing over shadows, Rena ran through the darkened corridor searching for any sign of life or motion. She rounded the corner and light flooded the air. Slowing to a walk, she glanced at the heavy steel doors lining the hall around her. Each held a tiny porthole and revealed another part of the ship's inner workings; the boilers, the engines, the spinning turbines and gears, all blasting the air with the deafening bellows of iron pounding against steel. While was Rena peering through one of the portholes, a cold blade slipped just beneath her chin.

"Drop your weapons." One of Wally's knights held his sword at Rena's throat and stared down at her. Backing slowly into the center of the hallway, she tossed her bow aside and raised her hands. Kicking her bow away, the knight scoffed. "There were two others with you in the mine. Where are they now?"

Rena closed her eyes for a moment and glowered. "I sent them off somewhere else. I don't like being violent around them."

Irritated, the Knight began to shout at her. "Tell me where they-"

Rena leaned back and twisted to the side, kicking the knight in the throat. He dropped his sword as he staggered backward and fell to the floor. Rena sauntered over to him, grabbing her bow as the knight clutched his throat and gasped for breath. As he clambered to his feet, Rena kicked his knee and dropped him to the ground where she stamped her heel into his back and drew her bow.

"Just so you know, that wasn't real violence yet." She pressed on his spine and he wheezed as air fled from his lungs. "Tell me where Wally is, then tell me where I can find the bridge."

"Ackhh..." The knight's voice caught in his throat as he struggled for breath. "Bridge... is at the bow, lower deck... there's a service passage... up ahead..."

Rena fired an arrow into the floor, grazing his face and cutting through his ear. "What about Wally?"

The knight winced and writhed, trying to force himself up but unable to overcome the force of Rena's foot. "I... I don't... know... please..."

Rena fired another arrow, cutting a thin line across his forehead.

"No, please!... I don't... know... please..." He gasped and coughed as his arms gave out and flopped alongside him, no longer able to keep up any sort of resistance.

"Okay, thanks~!" Rena smiled cheerfully and stepped off of his back. "You guys crack really easy, you know that? Knights shouldn't get intimidated by stuff like that." She stepped to the side and swung her foot into his face, knocking his head against the wall and leaving him unconscious. After running for another fifty yards, she found a small hatch that opened to the outside. Stepping into the realm of the sky, she stood on a wide service platform that seemed to stretch the entire length of the ship, giving her a clear, if blustery, path to the bow.

_Good. Maybe I can finish this before those two have to get into anything dangerous..._

Nodding to herself, Rena rushed across the service walkway toward the bow and fighting the wind every step of the way. Almost immediately, a huge shadow fell over her and enveloped the entire ship. Emerging from the clouds, another airship descended and started flying alongside Wally's, matching its speed and pulling in close. So close, in fact, that Rena could see the gangplank of the approaching ship lower and attach to the deck of Wally's craft.

* * *

Flanked by two of his royal guards, Lord Wally braced himself against the turbulence atop the deck and faced the ship that was now parallel to his own. With the cold wind stinging their eyes, they watched Raven walked across the gangplank and made his way over to them. Wally stepped forward held out his hand, shouting over the howling of wind and machinery.

"It's good to finally meet you!"

Raven glared at him and held up his left arm. "I don't think you want to shake this hand."

Wally looked over the menacing claw and laughed. "Ah, I suppose not!" Unamused by his banter, Raven ignored Wally's attempt at exchanging pleasantries.

"You have the El?"

"Ah, yes, of course." Wally pulled a small device from his pocket and toggled a switch on its side. Behind him, the ship's hull split open and a grand elevator whirled to life, rising to the surface and bringing with it Ruben's El and thousands of smaller El stones. The El was held in a heavy steel cage, its bottom sealed with steel plates to hold the tinier crystals in place making Ruben's El look like a grand monument buried in a desert of glowing sand. As soon as the elevator had stopped, Raven nodded and looked over his shoulder, signaling to his mercenaries. Rattling and rumbling, a powerful crane cross the gap between ships and scooped up the cage containing the El, lifting it from the deck.

"Wait, wait!" Wally waved his arms and the crane paused. "That's all well and good, but what about my factory!? I was promised the resources and technology to build every manner of nasod imaginable! When will your employer be making good on his word?"

"Ah, that." Raven nodded and the crane continued, pulling its cargo over to the Black Crow. In an instant, Raven lunged forward and drove his sword through Wally's chest. "Any man who would steal from his own people has no place in the world we're creating."

Enraged, Wally's guards raised their swords to strike only to be shot cleanly through the head by Raven's men. With the El transferred, Raven walked back over to the Black Crow and signaled to the bridge. "Shoot them down. Try to do it cleanly, we'll be recovering the rest of their cargo later."

Within moments, the Crow mercenaries rushed out onto the deck of their ship and manned the guns that lined its starboard side, firing relentlessly into Wally's ship.

"D-damn... you... how... dare... you...!" With blood pouring from his mouth, Wally clutched his controller and flipped all of its remaining toggles. Grinning bitterly, he looked up and spat toward the Black Crow before his face fell against the ground and his body went limp.

* * *

"What is this place even? It just looks like a huge storage room." Elsword grumbled as he wandered through stacks of metal bars and spare parts for the ship and its nasod.

"It's a ship." Aisha glared at him. "They're all just big moving storage rooms."

Elsword scoffed "Got it. Sorry for expecting stuff like an engine or maybe some people or something..."

Their patience wasn't wearing so thin with one another as it was merely wearing thin on the whole. Both of them were visibly annoyed by their lack of progress. Just after they had chased the cart full of El stones out of the foundry, it dropped down a chute far too narrow for either of them to fit through, bringing their pursuit to an unexpected end. After that, they proceeded through hallways and hanger bays without finding anything of note and getting lost several times along the way. In the next room, however, their luck changed drastically.

"Whoa..." Elsword stood back and examined the sight before him. A colossal nasod filled the hold, nearly twenty yards tall and armed with an array of cannons and smaller weapons Elsword had never seen before. For the time being, it appeared to be inactive.

"It's huge!" Aisha approached cautiously, circling around to its side and knocking on its chassis. As she did, a small panel popped off and sparks flew out as a bundle of wires shorted out and caught fire. Panicking, Aisha blew on the fire and it went out, leaving behind a cloud of thick, noxious smoke.

"Ah, you broke it." Elsword stared at her and she blushed lightly.

"I-It doesn't matter, we would've had to break it anyway if it started up!" As she looked to the wall and pouted, the ceiling suddenly opened up. Just as Elsword and Aisha looked up to see the sky above them, the ground shifted beneath their feet and they began to rise up to the deck. All around them, artillery shells were falling into the side of Wally's ship and exploding overhead. As the elevator came to a stop, the giant nasod that stood next to them began to move, rumbling to life with a shrill screech. Ignoring Elsword and Aisha, it turned toward the Black Crow and raised its arms, firing a flurry of rockets and exhaust flames at the opposing ship. Scrambling for cover, many of the crow mercenaries abandoned their posts and dove into the safety of the ship's interior as its hull was rocked by the blast of the nasod's cannons. After its initial assault, however, the nasod lowered its arms and stopped. Hovering over the deck, it turned to face Aisha and Elsword.

Elsword scowled and glared at Aisha. "You did a piss poor job breaking it."

Huffing and pouting, Aisha clenched her fist tightly around her wand and swung it out toward the nasod, sending a stream of lightning into its side and throughout the exposed wires. Spurting smoke and coughing sparks into the air, the giant quickly fell to the ground, its arms hanging motionless at its side. Now scowling herself, Aisha turned to Elsword and stared as he stumbled for a response.

"Alright, fine." He mumbled a concession while taking stock of their surroundings. The Crow's bombardment had stopped for the moment, but he could see that mercenaries were quickly filing back into their posts and loading up for another volley of artillery fire. Just as they were about to resume their attack, a stream of arrows flew across to the Black Crow, knocking its cannons off course and crippling their operators.

"Hey, look! Rena's down there!" As Elsword pointed toward the flight of arrows whistling through the air, the seemingly inactive nasod in front of them began to rumble. Jumping back and drawing their weapons, Elsword and Aisha stared as the front half of the nasod burst from the back, falling forward and crashing into the deck. In the midst of its remains sat a slick, metallic creature, its shape and size that of a human but its features completely foreign. Its movements were mechanical there were no joints or gears or hinges visible on its body. Instead of skin, it was covered in a some sort of coarse, flexible metal. Instead of a face, it sported only a single, glowing red eye in the center of its head. As she stared in horror at this alien creature, Aisha suddenly recalled an etching from one of her books and she realized that she knew exactly what she was looking at.

"It's... It's a Nasod..."

Elsword turned to her, confused. "So? We've seen hundreds of those, why're you acting all surprised?"

"No!" Aisha turned to him, her face awash with distress, "That's a _real_ Nasod!"

"What?" Elsword's eyes went wide and he stared in disbelief as a legend he'd heard as a child leapt to the ground and stood before them. Shaking and writhing violently, it spun its hands and two blades shot out from the bolts on its wrists. Its single eye darted across the deck, rapidly scanning the area before finally fixing on Aisha. In just the time it took Aisha to blink and shield her eyes from an explosion overhead, the Nasod was just a few yards away. Swinging her wand to the side she summoned a crackling ball of dark energy and leapt back, readying a spell as Elsword rushed to her side. Without pause, the Nasod cut through Aisha's spell and continued unimpeded, lunging through the air at her and catching the side of her arm with the edge of its blades. As Aisha winced in pain, Elsword kicked her attacker in the face and brought his sword down sharply only to be blocked by the Nasod's iridescent blades.

A loud crash filled the air as the ground shook violently beneath them. Wally's airship, having taken massive damage to its port side and its bridge, was listing to the left and had just crashed into the Black Crow. The momentary quaking set the Nasod off-balance, sending it toppling backward as Aisha jumped to her feet and steadied herself. Seeing the blood trickle down her arm, Elsword grit his teeth and furrowed his brow. If they were going to survive another charge like that, they would have to strike at the very last second. Before they could prepare themselves, a sharp glimmer caught Elsword's eye. The moment the Nasod resumed its forward charge, a heavy cannon on the Black Crow fired a round straight at them. With no time to dodge in any direction, Elsword grabbed Aisha's hand and dove to the ground, calling forth a shimmering blade that burst into the air yards away from them. As the cannon's shell spiraled through the air, it slid along the airy blade, its flight shifting away from Elsword and Aisha and into the path of the oncoming Nasod. A blast erupted on the deck, so sudden and violent that Aisha couldn't hear anything but the ringing in her ears for a minute after. The Nasod, which had been so keenly intent on their death, was now just a faint mass of metal sinking into the sea.

With only one of a hundred dangers gone, Elsword and Aisha scrambled to their feet and rushed to the edge of the deck.

"Rena! Are you okay!?" Aisha strained herself to shout, her lungs burning from the cold and the smoke that surrounded her. Just a dozen feet below, Rena ducked behind a support beam for cover and finished off a skin of water.

"Yup! I'm fine, but that other ship... " She breathed heavily, her legs and arms aching after firing what seemed like a million arrows into the armaments of the Black Crow. "The other ship took the El, we've got to get over there!"

Elsword stood and glanced over at the bow of Wally's ship, its port side still lodged in the hull of the Black Crow. "Over there! We can jump across there!"

"Alright!" Rena stood, taking her bow in hand and drawing it taut. "Go on ahead! I'll keep them busy here until you can get over there and take out the gunners, then I'll head over!"

Nodding, Elsword and Aisha sprinted toward the bow as Rena rained a hail of arrows down on the mercenaries of the Black Crow. As she ran, Aisha felt an awful knot twist and turn in her stomach and her vague sense of unease crystallized into a single distressing thought.

_Why is Rena always the one fighting to save us?_

Before she could reflect any further, the ground heaved and leapt beneath their feet. Using all their strength to sprint for the bow, they ran to the edge of the deck and jumped. It was then that Wally's ship began to fall. Rolling hard to its side, the Black Crow shook itself free and started to pull away just as Aisha and Elsword were tumbling through the air toward it. Stranded on a trajectory that would land them in the frigid ocean below, Aisha reached out and grabbed Elsword by the waist, spinning her wand and teleporting them both up to the deck of the Black Crow. As they landed, she gripped her head and cringed.

"Ow ow ow ow... I've done that way too much today..."

"Forget that. Look!" Elsword pulled her up by the shoulder and she saw a sight that drained her face of all color. The Black Crow was sailing away through the air as Wally's ship listed aimlessly and slowly dropped out of the sky.

Aisha ran to the nearest railing and gazed into the distance. She could still see Rena pinned down by gunfire as the crows continued their barrage of the broken vessel. Her heart sank to the ocean floor and her eyes welled up with tears. Leaning into the wind as far as she could, she shouted at the top of her lungs. "No! Rena! Rena!"

Slumped over against one of the last intact walls of the outer walkway, Rena panted heavily and looked out at the down turned bow of Wally's ship. "I guess this... might finally be it..." As she glanced out over the ocean and across the sky, she saw Elsword and Aisha standing on the deck of the Black Crow and she sighed fondly. "Good... they made it." She stared to her side and saw the clouds retreating as she sunk toward the sea. Pitched forward, Wally's ship was beginning to drag in the wind and it shook more violently than ever. Crippled and crushed, the ship was no longer a vessel so much as it was a living corpse, its cargo bay lay in shambles, its foundry a mess of ore and ingots fused together by the heat of artillery explosions. In the midst of this destruction, Rena leaned back and closed her eyes. If this would be her death, she would accept it. Silently, she recited a string of words she had learned from her grandfather ages ago, the words she had spoken a dozen times before as she stood alongside the tomb of her friends and parents.

_O Silver Moon, guide me home,_

_And set aside an evening's rest._

_For how many years have I lived?_

_And how many Deaths have I died?_

_In the meadow of my birth-_

A sharp cry cut through the din of battle and broke Rena's concentration. It was the sound of her name, desperate and frail, and it was coming from the deck of the Black Crow. When Rena looked up, she saw Aisha and Elsword clinging to the rails, out in the open and screaming toward her in spite of the danger they were in. Seeing them shouting at her like that, their voices so full of anguish, her heart caught in her throat. Laughing weakly, she pulled herself up to her feet and clutched her bow. "Those two... don't they know not to disturb a lady when she's resting?" Grinning broadly, she hooked her bow onto the ledge above, pulling herself up to the deck of Wally's ship and running along it's edge. With gunfire and artillery still riddling the air, she raced toward the stern, fighting against the burning pain in her legs and the exhaustion that was settling in throughout her body. With the left rear propellers demolished, the stern side of the deck was the furthest she could go, still more than a dozen yards away from the Black Crow. Still, she was determined not to leave her companions just yet. Dashing to the edge, she leapt into the air and sailed toward the Black Crow. As she began to fall, she drew her bow and released its string, creating a burst of wind that launched her through the air. Still just out of reach, she drew back and released again, flying over the water and landing on the rear deck of the Black Crow.

As she watched Rena's flight, Aisha sniffled and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Come on, let's go find her. We've got-" She turned to Elsword and stopped, stunned when she saw him rubbing his eyes. He immediately glowered at her and started walking away.

"It's just sweat. We gotta hurry before they find us here."

Smiling, even if only slightly, Aisha joined him and headed to the rear of the ship to join Rena. Somehow, even though they were now battered, bruised, exhausted, and stranded on a flying ship full of cold-blooded mercenaries, she felt an unexpected, comforting sense of accomplishment, the sort of victorious confidence that comes from knowing that had all survived. Despite the overwhelming dread that lingered over her and the knowledge that they were only seconds away from another battle, for the moment, she was content.


	17. Of Two Minds

Of Two Minds

* * *

Footsteps clattered against the Black Crow's tarnished deck as Elsword and Aisha ran toward the stern. So far, the path was clear and the Crow mercenaries were still busy putting out the fires that had started on the lower decks during the battle. Running on the last of their dwindling reserves, they pushed themselves forward, against the wind and the stinging cold as sweat soaked their hair. After a hundred yards that might felt like a thousand, they spotted Rena slipping back behind an exhaust duct. Confirming that there were no crows nearby, or at least none that they could see, Aisha and Elsword hurried to join her. As soon as she was in range, Aisha leapt forward and wrapped her arms around Rena's shoulders.

"Ow..." With her arms and back strained and bruised, Rena winced and Aisha immediately released her.

"Ah, I'm sorry!"

"No, it's okay..." Rena smiled weakly and patted Aisha on the head. "That was pretty tense back there after all. Are you two alright?"

Elsword nodded. "Yeah..." He leaned back and slid to the floor, sitting with his elbows on his knees. "You okay?"

Rena laughed softly, breaking into a cough along the way. "Yup~" She beamed brightly and brushed herself off, taking a seat across from Elsword and Aisha soon followed suit. "It'd be nice if we could just stow away here without being bothered though."

Aisha sighed and her head dropped to her chest. "Considering everything we've gone through so far, I don't think we'll be that lucky..."

For a time, The three sat in silence, catching their breath and devouring what rations they had left, their thoughts converging on their inevitable confrontation with the soldiers of the Black Crow. It was impossible for them to say just how many mercenaries were on board, but given the size of the ship, more than a thousand seemed a reasonable estimate.

"It'd be best if we could sneak around without getting spotted..." Rena stretched her arms out as she considered their options.

"We might be able to hide and steal the ship once we land..." Aisha stared into the sky and sighed. "...but honestly, nothing sounds like a good idea right now"

Elsword looked around at the sparse cover of their hiding place and scowled. "Let's just go then. We're in a bad place out in the open like this." Rena and Aisha nodded to him and they stood, checking for any sign of activity around them before they slipped out onto the deck.

Glancing from side to side anxiously, Aisha couldn't help but worry that their attempted espionage would end unfavorably. Unfortunately, she was right.

"Good of you to finally join us." Emerging from just around the corner, a brash old mercenary blocked their path. From the starboard side, over a dozen soldiers marched out onto the deck, cutting off every exit save for that which would end with a swim in the sea. Slowly, Elsword, Aisha, and Rena backed together, facing down the icy barrels of a firing squad. As their minds raced to find a way through this dilemma, the elder mercenary headed across the deck to a small brass tube and shouted into it.

"Boss! We've caught the intruders. Whaddyou wanna do with em'?"

A moment's silence. After a brief pause, the tube spat out the garbled echo of Raven's voice.

"We've got no need for live prisoners."

"Heh... Well, you heard him." Strolling over to the edge of the deck, the old soldier raised his hand toward the sky. "On my mark then."

Elsword's eyes darted back and forth frantically. There was no time to think, no time to plan, no time to figure out what words he'd need to put together for the right incantation. Time seemed to drag on as the riflemen raised their weapons and took aim. Seconds split into hours and Elsword's thoughts soon became an incoherent onslaught of anxiety and distress. There was simply no time. Once he saw the old soldier's finger twitch, he reacted instantly, before he even knew what he was doing. Reaching to his right, he grabbed Aisha by the wrist and hurled his sword into the air. Instinctively, the riflemen turned and gunfire ripped through the air, their bullets bouncing off Elsword's blade and sailing into the distance. Before they could adjust their aim, Elsword dragged Aisha along and ran for the rails, diving over the edge and grabbing his falling weapon as they disappeared from view. As they ran, Rena drew her bow and took aim at the firing squad. Just as she was about to release, the elder mercenary rushed forward and grabbed her arms, forcing her bow toward the sky. As he struggled to tear the bow from her hands, something unexpected caught his eye and he jumped back, holding his hand out toward the riflemen.

"Hold your fire. Keep the guns trained on her though, but hold your fire..." Rena glanced at him calmly as he approached and studied her face. "You two, bring me some shackles. The captain will want to see her."

Confused but compliant, a pair of soldiers headed off into the ship as the old soldier pulled his own rifle from his back and held it forward, motioning for Rena to drop her bow. As she laid her weapon on the deck, the errant soldiers returned with a set of shackles. Circling around behind Rena, they grabbed her hands and jerked them behind her back, wrenching her arms back and forth as they locked her wrists in iron.

"Oh, you should get my feet too or I could kick you in the face." Rena smiled warmly at her captors.

The soldier at her side scoffed. "Just keep quiet. We can still toss you overboard- Ow!" He cringed as Rena quickly slammed her heel into his shin. Enraged, he turned to her and drew back his fist, preparing to hurl a punch into her stomach. Just as he started swinging, however, his arm stopped, arrested by the hand of the old soldier.

"Don't touch her." The old soldier glared at them sternly. "This might be somethin' serious, so shut up and leave this one alone. Just shut up and take her to the Boss's room. Any of you lay a hand on her, you might not have that hand by tomorrow. Understood?"

"Yes, Sir!"

* * *

Two decks below, Elsword slammed his hand into solid steel, dropping his forehead against the wall and twisting his face up in frustration.

"Damn it... Damn it!" With his eyes fallen to the floor and regret swirling through his stomach like a twisting knot of vipers, he listened as Rena was led away into the hall of the Black Crow. In the bitter, smoke-stained wind, Aisha clenched her fists and stared at Elsword fiercely.

"You... You idiot!" She shouted with no concern for whether or not anyone else could hear. "Why did you take me!? Why didn't you save Rena instead?" Her hands began to tremble. "I could've just pretended to get caught and teleport away, or I could've burned through the handcuffs, or anything else! Rena's always the one who gets caught in the most dangerous situations all on her own. Why didn't you save her..."

"I don't know!" Elsword turned to her and threw his hand out. For a moment, the air swirled with an anxious tension, both Elsword and Aisha glaring at one another viciously. With the tide of adrenaline receding and the reality of Rena's capture looming over him, the rage quickly drained from Elsword's eyes and he turned toward the vacant sky. "I don't know..."

His face was as full of conflict as his thoughts, unable to grasp his own motivations and incapable of answering for himself. Faced with his apparent remorse and Rena's captivity, Aisha couldn't stay angry at him. Stifling her fears and frustration, she grabbed her wand and gathered her resolve. "Alright, let's go save her."

Elsword dismissed his unease and nodded. "Yeah. Let's go."

Sliding between the shadows of the lower decks, they ducked into an open door and darted through the empty corridors of the Black Crow. Far exceeding their previous attempts at subterfuge, they went entirely undetected as they moved from room to room, save for the three soldiers they had to knock out and lock in a close, and also the two that ended up falling unconscious just outside of the armory. Once inside the ship's stockpile of weapons, they sifted through piles of rusted swords and broken rifle barrels to find Rena's bow, jammed unceremoniously into the bottom of a scrap heap. Just as they were about to make their exit, a parade of boots marched down the hall just outside.

"They're somewhere on this level! Seal all the exits and then sweep every room!" A coarse voice issued orders as soldiers bounded off into every corner of the deck. Looking to one another silently, Aisha and Elsword searched for any other possible way out of the area. There was just a single, wide door at the entrance to the armory and the room itself was filled with weapons and supplies, all of which were inconveniently arranged in a way that left no substantial place to hide. With the sound of shoes pounding against steel fast approaching, Aisha held her breath and fixed her eyes on the door.

"Hey, I found- er..." Elsword fiddled with a large panel on the wall.

"What are you doing!?" Aisha whispered emphatically.

"The wall's hollow here, there might be somethin..." Elsword dug his sword into the side of the thin panel and popped it off, revealing a narrow dark, narrow passage. "Ah, it came off."

"Don't stand there, hurry!" Aisha rushed over and pushed him through the opening, grabbing the panel and doing her best to pull it shut behind them. Within seconds, a pair of voices echoed through the armory.

"Check the junk over there too! Clear out every corner!" A group of soldier filed inside and started sifting through the crates and lockers, searching for the intruders.

"Hey, you two!" The sudden shout sent chills through the air as Elsword and Aisha tensed up, staring at the flimsy panel that separated them from their pursuers. "You two, wake up! What're you doing?"

"Nn? Huh?" A groggy soldier stumbled to his feet and surveyed his surroundings in a daze. "Oh... what?"

"What happened, did you see anyone come through here?"  
"Uh... I don't think so?"

"Tch..." Sharp irritation cut through the air as the two soldiers laying against the wall outside the armory stumbled to their feet, their memory a fortuitous blur. With the immediate threat of discovery behind them, Aisha and Elsword lit fires in their palms and headed down the twisting narrow path. All around them, pipes poured mist and steam into the air, coursing throughout the ship like a bundle of hissing vines. Just ahead, they reached an intersection and the passage opened up slightly, it's tangle of copper pipes joined by brass and steel and twisting off throughout the ship's interior.

"This looks like some kind of service area... maybe it runs throughout the whole deck." Aisha ran her hand along the wall and ducked sharply as a puff of steam shot out at her from overhead.

"Wait, hold it. There's a light up ahead." Elsword pointed to a distant speck to their right, a tiny glimmer that seemed to be coming from inside the ship. Slowly, they made their way over the mess of pipes and toward the light. As they approached, a dozen other small lights flickered against the walls up ahead and they hurried to examine each one. Mounted in the wall, small fans pulled air out of the service space and into a large mess hall where they could see a crowd of soldiers raising a ruckus and turning over tables as they searched for Aisha and Elsword. Further down, a small ventilation faced out into a hallway lined with soldiers who were jeering and laughing amongst themselves as they stood guard. Around the next corner, however, they spotted someone they didn't expect.

"Rena!"

* * *

The bridge of the Black Crow was entirely unlike its lower decks. While the soldiers below ran through the halls searching for Elsword and Aisha, those on the bridge were silent and almost completely still. Standing at the helm, Raven stared off into the horizon as the old soldier who had captured Rena finished his report.

"...That's generally the size of it. The two who escaped are trapped on the lower decks and we should find them soon enough. As for the other... We've locked her in your room."

Raven's right hand was trembling. It wasn't the escape of the two stowaways that rattled him; rather, it was the woman who was now locked in his cabin and who his subordinate said she resembled. A wave of memories and pain washed over him and he clenched his jaw as a pulse of electric shocks coursed through his body. His constitution wavering, he turned and stormed from the bridge as his claw arm shook violently.

"You have the helm."

"Wait, Boss!" The old soldier called out after him to no avail. Within seconds, Raven was already down on the lower deck.

* * *

Laying in wait beneath an austere four poster bed, Rena glanced around at the sound of her name, scanning the walls until she found the tiny slotted vent nestled in the corner of the room.

"Aisha!" She smiled and waved with her cuffed hands. "Actually, where are you?" She looked to another point in the wall and waved at it cautiously.

"We're in some kind of crawlspace between rooms. Are you okay?" She pushed against the vent but it held fast, bolted firmly to a thick steel plate on each side. "And what are you doing under the bed?"

Rena grinned and chuckled deviously. "They left me in the captain's room, so I'm going to wait till he gets here and then jump out and take him hostage."

"Hold on, we got your bow" Elsword pushed her bow toward the vent but its slots were far too narrow for anything of that size to slip through.

"No, hold on to it." Rena shook her head. "I can't use it very well in really tight spaces like this. We'll have to meet back up outside somewhere. Hopefully, when I take the captain hostage, they'll at least let us off somewhere. It might be too much to expect that we'll be able to get the El back from them in this situation..."

Elsword scowled and slumped back against large, humming steel pipe. Leaving behind the El, even if it was the only way they could think of to get out alive, was the last possibility he wanted to consider at this point. As if she could see his dissatisfaction through the wall, Rena smiled brightly and clapped her hands together.

"Don't worry. We'll find a way to get the El, but right now, we've got to find a way to get off this ship" She shifted her legs and pulled herself closer to the wall. "You two should go on ahead and see if there are any life boats or anything like that on board, I'll be along in a little while."

Aisha peered through the vent, her anxiety bleeding through to her voice. "No, we're not leaving."

Beside her, Elsword nodded. "If you get in trouble, we'll just bust through the wall and roast that guy."

Rena blinked, a gentle smile spreading across her face as she sighed. "Alright, but try to stay hidden if you can."

Aisha's response was interrupted by the heavy click of a key turning in a lock. As the door to the captain's room opened, Aisha and Elsword pressed their faces to the vent and stared, their breath arrested as Raven entered the room. Panting heavily, he turned and slammed the door shut behind him. Unsteady on his feet, he staggered over to his desk, leaning on his right arm as his left twitched and trembled. Pulling a knife from the nearest drawer, he turned it on himself and drove it down toward his left arm.

"Stop... toying... with me..." He thrust the knife into his claw, its blade snapping and shattering until he was pressing nothing more than a jagged hilt into his arm. A surge of electricity ran through his body and blood seeped from the corners of his mouth as his eyes filled with spite and rage. "I won't... let her... see me like this!" He braced himself against his desk and hurled his body against the wall, slamming his left side into the reinforced steel as hard as he could manage. Upon his third attempt, a violent shock seeped into his bones and he fell to the floor. The air hung heavily in the room, thick with the smell of sweat and smoke. Rena stared out uneasily at the man who lay prone just a few feet away. He was clearly unconscious and clearly in immense pain, so much so that it didn't seem like he would be standing on his own any time soon. She knew this, and yet her eyes were drawn to his left arm and the steel-clad claw that Raven seemed to be fighting against so desperately. Pulling herself closer, she finally got a good look at the captain of the Black Crow: His body was covered in scars and scrapes both new and old, his face vacant as his faculties failed him. His thin shirt was torn open and soaked in sweat, its sleeves tattered and covered in the stains of a hundred battles. He lay prone, completely defenseless and in the perfect position for Rena to spring to her feet and tie him up. As she stared at him, however, she couldn't help but hesitate. While the rest of his body was limp and lifeless, his left arm was still moving, sliding across the floor and pushing Raven onto his side. Once he was off the ground, his eyes opened faintly and he climbed to his feet, his face drained of all expression. His movements became mechanical and his eyes fluttered across the room. Soon, his gaze fell upon his bed.

"There."

His left arm closed around the edge of the bed and threw it up, revealing Rena beneath. Reaching behind him, he took hold of his sword and leveled its edge at Rena's face. She rolled to her side quickly and hopped up to her feet. Just as Raven raised his weapon and started to swing down at her, his hand sprung open and his eyes went wide as his sword clattered against the ground. With his mouth agape, he fell back and just barely caught himself against his desk. Wary and confused, Rena kept her distance and readied herself to attack, but Raven never moved. Instead, he stood aghast, staring at her intently. Gradually, he pushed himself up to his feet, his eyes full of a distant pain as he struggled to speak a single, broken word.

"Se...ris..."


	18. The Weight of a Life

The Weight of a Life

* * *

In an instant, the veil of ice that hung so firmly overhead cracked and shattered into a stunning cascade of frigid mist. Raven's eyes were full of the scenes from a thousand days gone by and he trembled. Though he was staring straight at Rena, it was soon clear that he was looking at someone else entirely. Still wary and on her guard, Rena held her stance as he took a single step forward.

"I don't deserve to speak to you..." He hung his head, unable to face the gaze of his memory. "I've drowned myself in blood and stolen far more than I could ever repay. I've tried to stop it, but every time I'm the one who gives the order to continue. Please..." He picked up his sword and held the handle out toward Rena. "If you still have any pity left, I need you to put an end to this..."

Glancing from Raven's face to his sword, Rena paused. Her experience suggested that this could be a trap, or more likely that this man's instability made any offer of resignation dubious at best. That alone was enough to make her hesitate, but it was something else entirely that kept her from even considering his request. As he spoke of the people had killed and the suffering he had caused, his face was marred by a sincere agony. Of course, remorseful tyrants and murderers were nothing foreign to Rena; she had seen several monstrous killers in the past who sincerely regretted their actions and yet willfully continued them until they were themselves either killed or captured. Given her experience, her choice should have been simple; to prevent the suffering of thousands, she should take Raven's blade and end his life. Still, something gave her pause, something that she couldn't quite put into words yet and something that made her willing to take the unprecedented risk of letting Raven live. Keeping her distance, she spoke in a careful, measured tone.

"If you regret what you've done, you can always stop."

As he voice rang through Raven's ears, he looked up and studied her face and his desperation waned. "You should not have had to see that...Who are you?"

"My name's Rena, but I'm a bit more interested in who you thought I was just now." She tried to meet his eyes but he turned away, returning his sword to its sheath and staring off into the distance.

"Someone I knew once." He turned back toward her. "Why are you on this ship?"

She grinned defiantly. "Well, if you told me your name like a proper gentleman, then I'd have no trouble telling you why I'm here"

Raven's voice caught in his throat and he recoiled slightly as though he were about to issue an apology. "Raven. I'm the captain of this ship, and we don't deal kindly with stowaways."

"I can tell." Rena smiled and held up her shackled hands before giving him an answer. "About a month ago, someone stole a giant El crystal from a forest in the north, and now the people who live there are struggling to survive. If we don't return the El before spring, most of them will die."

Raven considered her story for a moment and then realized that the stolen El he received from Wally was the same El that Rena was searching for. "...They should be grateful to have a life to struggle for. I've already killed hundreds on my own in the time since they lost their El."

"But you don't seem to enjoy it." Rena's eyes were stern as she searched his words. "If you hate causing so much pain, then why won't you stop?" Her gaze drifted to his left arm and its cold steel claws. "Does it have something to do with the machine on your left arm?"

Raven looked down at his mechanical hand and his eyes burned with contempt. "This just keeps me in line. It makes sure I don't run from battle and that I don't seek a coward's death."

Rena's voice rose to a desperate plea. "But if that thing's controlling you-"

"It isn't." His eyes darkened and he scowled bitterly. "Aside from the shocks, this arm does nothing to force my hand. It shows me my own memories and reminds me of my own spite. No matter how many times I regret what I've done, the moment I see her laying there, lifeless... at that moment, I always choose revenge." He turned from her and put his hands down on his desk. "...None of this is your concern. If you want your El back, you'll have to kill me to get it."

"Are you sure that's the only way? Are you really going to keep doing this if you hate it so much?" Rena spoke gently, her voice an unwanted comfort to Raven's ears. Curling up his fingers into a tight fist, he pushed himself off of his desk and headed toward the door.

"If you don't plan to fight back or escape, then stay in here until we can find a place to throw you overboard."

"Oh, wait, I do plan to fight back and escape though." She smiled brightly at him. "So you'll need to keep a close eye on me, okay?"

"...Fine." Raven avoided her eyes as he pulled back the heavy steel door to the hallway. "Come with me. You'll stay on the bridge until we land."

Rena bounced over toward him, stopping abruptly as she approached. "Oh, um... Could you give me a second? Alone? For private lady-things?" She glanced aside shyly and Raven hesitated, clearly unsure of what 'lady-things' entailed. Scowling more severely than ever, he stepped into the hall and pushed the door shut behind him, muttering as he left.

"You have two minutes. Hurry it up."

As soon as he was gone, Rena rushed to the corner and peered into the vent.

"We've got to change out plans." Rena whispered into the wall. "...Hey, are you two still in there?"

On the other side, Aisha and Elsword were in fact listening, and they were vaguely mortified.

"What are you doing? You could've had him tied up and thrown in the closet by now!" Elsword whispered sharply through the humming air of the service corridor. Looking at him softly, Rena shook her head.

"No, there's something else to him... I don't know if we can help him, but I think he can at least help us get the El back."

"But he's crazy!" Aisha pressed her forehead against the vent, trying to force her apprehension through to Rena. "He just went from violent to delusional and suicidal in the same five minutes. We can't trust him."

"You might be right, but I can't leave here without at least trying to get him to stop this." Rena gave Aisha a calm, gentle stare that wore down her defenses.

"Alright... I guess it's worth the risk if it works..." Aisha pouted silently, unwilling to let Rena go off into another dangerous situation alone. "What was your plan?"

Rena nodded seriously. "We're going to kidnap him. If we can get him away from his crew and away from this ship for a while, he might decide to stop all of this. If not, we can use him as a hostage then to get the El back."

"What!? There's no way that'll work." Elsword glared through slatted wall and Rena looked back at him, her eyes pleading and confident. Grumbling, he crossed his arms and turned aside. "...Fine, what do you need us to do?"

"There should be some kind of life raft or something that the crew use to escape if the ship starts to go down. We need to get ahold of that and then bail out as soon as we see an island or a city below us."

"Rena... are you really sure about this?" Aisha's worries had shifted from and anxious unease to a quiet concern. "You don't need to stop him... You don't need to go do this on your own. We just need to get the El back."

"But I won't be doing it alone. You two will be there, right?" She smiled warmly and Aisha finally surrendered. "I've got to go. When you find the life boats, wait for me on the upper deck just below the bridge. I'll be out there as soon as I can." She rose to her feet and hurried off toward the hallway, glancing over her shoulder and smiling as she went. As soon as she was gone, Elsword turned back to Aisha and glowered.

"Why'd you let her go through with it?"

"I don't remember you shouting 'No!' at the end there either." She grimaced and they both turned back toward the now empty captain's cabin. "...It's just really hard to say no to her when she looks at you that way. Ah!" Aisha huffed and grumbled to herself. "Stupid..."

"Let's just go..." Elsword furrowed his brow as he started back down the corridor. "We need to be there when she pulls this off, so we've gotta hurry."

Still upset and fuming at no one in particular, Aisha followed him through the maze of pipes and shadows, hoping that the knots twisting around in her stomach were the result of having eaten only three times in the past two days and not a premonition of catastrophe.

* * *

"Captain on the bridge!" As Raven stepped out of the hallway, his soldiers stood at attention and waited for him to take his post. When Rena hopped through the door behind him, however, she caught the eyes of the entire room. Acknowledging their surprise, Raven took his place at the to the right of the helm and signaled for his subordinates to return to their duties. Glancing sidelong at Rena who had taken a place precariously close to the engine controls, he issued a stern order.

"Watch her closely. She's too dangerous to leave unguarded." He turned to his right and stared down at the old soldier who had captured her. "Wells. Get over here."

Wells sauntered over to the helm and stood at attention. "Yes, boss?"

"What possessed you to lock a stowaway in my cabin?"

"I-" He hesitated beneath Raven's oppressive gaze. "I thought that she might be someone you knew..."

"You were mistaken." Raven turned away, dismissing Wells and his concerns. "The person you are thinking of has been dead for three years. Watch the prisoner closely and don't make this mistake again."

"Yes, sir!" Unsettled, Wells marched over to Rena's side and curled his lips in, giving his best intimidating, stoic glare. In response, Rena smiled and waved cheerfully at him and he scoffed.

From the far side of the bridge, a young mercenary studied his instruments and stood to turned to issue his report. "Boss, Altera's about twenty clicks off now, elevation at thirteen hundred."

"Good. Take us up to twenty-seven fifty and hold this speed." Raven shifted his eyes to the side and rested them on Rena for a moment before returning to the horizon ahead. "Get the crew in position in the cargo bay. I want to drop the El and be out of there within ten minutes."

"Yes, Sir!"

Heeding the helm's instruction, the Black Crow floated up through the sky. As the sea shrank below, clouds billowed over the bridge and bathed the deck in a thick blanket of mist. Once they emerged from the fields of rolling fog, the setting sun cast its bursting palette across the horizon, leaving the air awash in a brilliant scarlet shroud. Far in the distance, the shy peak of a mountaintop peered out of the crimson clouds. Stealing a glance to the deck below, Rena saw that Elsword and Aisha were in position and waiting for her. If there was a mountain up ahead, it had to be resting on land of some sort and this could be their best chance and only chance to escape. Breathing in deeply, Rena checked her surroundings. Three soldiers at the helm shifting levers and handling the ship's wheel. Two at the far side of the bridge monitoring instruments and checking the ship's heading. Aside from that, there was only the soldier standing guard behind her and Raven at the bridge. Staring at Raven's reflection in the thick glass windows at the front of the bridge, Rena turned her feet and prepared to meet harsh resistance.

As the Black Crow leveled off and sailed on toward the sunset, Rena swept her heel back and brought her leg down hard against the back of officer Wells, dropping him to his knees and then to the floor. Before anyone else could turn to register her assault, she dashed for the helm and pulled hard on the ship's wheel, spinning it rapidly and causing the entire ship to roll hard to its port side.

"Keep your posts!" Raven shouted angrily as his soldiers turned to address the commotion. Drawing his sword, he rushed toward Rena and swung rapidly, the edge of his blade landing in the bridge windows just above Rena's shoulder. Pulling back and closing his claw into a heavy fist, he threw a strong punch and Rena ducked to the ground. With Rena clear of his strike, Raven continued on and punched right through the glass, sending hundreds of jagged, sparkling shards tumbling toward the deck below. Jumping up to her feet, Rena caught Raven's claw with the chains between her shackles, wrapping it tightly and pulling him along as she leapt from the bridge and hurled him through the air. She rolled as she landed, springing to her feet while Raven lay on his back nearby, dazed from the sudden fall.

"Rena!" From the side of the deck, Elsword rushed forward and threw Rena's bow toward her. Jumping into the air, she snatched it with both hands and ran along the railing to where Elsword and Aisha waited.

"Thanks." She smiled fondly at them.

"Here, give me your hands." Aisha raised her wand and held it over Rena's shackles. Soon, sparks flickered into the air and a bright red beam spiraled around the iron links that bound Rena's hands together and cut them smoothly.

Shaking the broken shackles from her hands, Rena glanced over her shoulder at the still prone Raven. "Did you find the life boats?"

Aisha shook her head. "There aren't any. They only have these things..." She held out a bundle of heavy backpacks filled with tightly folded silk and cord.

"Ah, parachutes." Rena smiled awkwardly. "I... haven't heard of anyone who's made one that worked so far. I suppose if that's all we've got-"

"Watch out!" Elsword leapt in front of Rena and hurled a fireball across the deck, knocking back a pair of mercenaries that had climbed up from the lower decks. Within a single second, there were another dozen soldiers pouring out on the deck from the starboard side, circling around and readying their swords and rifles. As the ship finally leveled off again, Raven coughed and pushed himself up to his feet. With a face full of rage and spite, he raised his sword toward Rena, Aisha, and Elsword and shouted over the roaring wind.

"Kill them, now!"

Immediately, a hail of bullets rained down from across the deck, shattering as they slammed into the side of a shimmering magic blade that hung in the air in front of Elsword. As the blade glistened and vanished, a wave of arrows and fire swept out toward the soldiers, scorching their hands and knocking away their weapons.

"Get to the guns and shoot them down if you have to!" Raven shouted and stormed across the deck, leaping through the air and drawing his sword through the air in a wide arc. Elsword braced himself and still slid back upon impact, struggling with both hands against Raven's blade. As Raven stared down at Elsword with ice in his eyes, Aisha dashed over to flank him and hurled an orb of crackling dark magic through the air. Still keeping Elsword pinned down with one hand, Raven pivoted in place and raised his left arm, firing a bright burst of energy that cut through Aisha's attack. Before he could begin his counterattack, Rena released a flurry of arrows into the air and Raven retreated to the middle of the deck as his soldiers finished turning the ship's guns inward. In concert, the ten guns on the bow fired just as Elsword and Rena dove to the ground while Aisha teleported to the far side of the deck, narrowly avoiding the heavy shells as they ripped through the air and sailed over the edge of the ship and into the distance. Twirling her wand sharply, Aisha swung down at the nearest battery and a massive, jagged black stone crashed through the air and fell onto the deck, crushing the huge cannon into a mangled heap of steel and smoke. On the starboard side, Elsword shielded Rena and himself as they ran through the chaos of gun smoke and the thunder of artillery, parting ways as Elsword rushed toward the nearest battery and Rena headed to confront Raven.

Cannons sounded and metal screeched as the ship's guns continued their barrage of the deck, trailing just behind Aisha and Elsword as they dashed and dove across the field, wrecking every battery they could get close to. In the midst of the deafening bellows of artillery fire, Rena confronted Raven, his sword drawn and his eyes cold. He lunged and thrust his blade toward he but he only managed cut the ribbon from her hair as she slid to the ground, kicking his feet out from under him and rolling to the side. Quickly, she drew her hand back across her bow and fired a dozen arrows through the air. Undaunted, Raven lay still and stable as Rena's arrows grazed his arms and legs, scarring the dense steel floor. As soon as he barrage had passed, Raven rolled up to his feet and raised his left arm. Rumbling and hissing, the glowing core of his left hand fired a burst of ash and flame straight at Rena. Diving to the side, she plucked her bowstring and sent the fireballs flying off course with a gust of wind, taking aim and unleashing another half dozen arrows as the errant flames scattered into the sky. Raven stood his ground and Rena's arrows once again slid past his chest and shoulders, leaving only light cuts and a faint trail of blood.

"Even after all I've done, you still plan to fight half-heartedly? Even when I'm trying to kill you and your comrades?" Raven glared fiercely, his eyes unmoving. Defiant, Rena took to her feet and readied her bow for another volley.

"I can't kill you until I'm absolutely certain..."

"Certain of what? How many men do I need to kill so that you'll be certain of my crimes?"

"No!" Rena pulled her bow to the side and fired a shot at an approaching mercenary, knocking them to their knees. Without pause, she turned back to Raven and stepped toward him. "Even if you can't erase what you've done, you can overshadow it with something better! If you've killed for the past three years then save people for the next twenty! No one has to die today!"

Raven cast his gaze aside, his resolve wavering. It lasted for only a moment, but in that moment, he was prepared to surrender. In the next, he was prepared for war.

"If you won't fight me seriously then I'll show no mercy." Raven charged, swinging his claw arm out and slashing with his sword, leaving no room for escape. Drawing rapidly, Rena fired at Raven's sword, knocking his blade away and leaving her room to dodge. All around them, splinters of steel and clouds of smoke erupted across the deck as they matched one another in a violent dance of singing steel and howling gusts. Still running frantically across the field, Aisha and Elsword were constantly just a hair's breadth away from a vicious explosion or a hail of lead, dodging and shielding one another as they destroyed one battery after another. Another pack of soldiers started to storm the deck with weapons drawn and Elsword dashed over to them, driving his sword into the ground and summoning a fence of glistening, golden blades that barred their path and knocked them back. Realizing that the guns were avoiding the ship itself, Aisha hurried over to the center deck and stood directly beneath the bridge, covering the field in a deluge of fireballs and bursts of dark energy. It was almost too late when she finally saw the biggest gun on board, the giant fifteen inch cannon mounted on the bow, turn toward the bridge and prepare to fire. The moment after Aisha leapt aside and rolled out onto the deck, the cannon fired and a roaring wave of heat and light flooded the air as the bridge burst into flames.

With its pilots gone, the ship creaked and groaned but it did not stop. Instead, the bow pitched forward slightly and the Black Crow headed straight for the small mountaintop island in the vast sea of clouds. The mercenaries who had manned the grand cannon fled their post in horror, joining their comrades below deck as they fought desperately against the fire raging on the bridge. Now that the field was clear of any other distractions, Elsword and Aisha rushed to join Rena in her attempt to capture Raven. Sliding forward, Elsword delivered a strong swing to Raven's back, forcing him to turn and block while Rena kicked his legs out from under him. As he stumbled to his knees, Aisha grabbed Raven and forced a surge of lightning into his left arm. Shaking, Raven tumbled to the ground and Elsword quickly laid a foot down across his back while Rena did the same across his leg, ensuring that he couldn't get up. A moment later, however, Raven let out an enraged growl and pushed himself up, throwing Elsword and Rena off and interrupting Aisha's binding spell. The brutal conflict continued unabated as the ship gradually fell forward, its bow now angled down as it barreled toward the island below. Standing together, Rena, Aisha, and Elsword panted and wiped the sweat from their faces as they faced down Raven. Battered, bleeding, and looking far more exhausted than anyone else on board, Raven was pushing his opponents to their limit even if he was taking damage in the process. As the ship lurched forward and dove toward the clouds, Elsword made his move.

Opening with a powerful thrust, Elsword charged ahead and matched Raven's every blow, using the greater size and weight of his sword to block and deflect Raven's blade. Every time Elsword was open and vulnerable to an attack from the side, Rena fired a stream of arrows into Raven's left arm, knocking it aside and keeping him from finishing any kind of attack. While their relentless assault continued and Raven gave up ground, Aisha completed her binding sigil and drove her Wand into Raven's side, ensnaring him in a twisting mass of glowing chains. Struggling to free himself, he began to snap each chain in turn, ripping their links apart and wrenching his arms free. Just as he escaped the sigil, Elsword slipped around behind him and Rena raced around to his side. The two of them each delivered a swift kick, one to the stomach and one to the back, emptying Raven's lungs and causing him to double over. While he straightened himself and spun around to attack, Aisha leapt behind him and bashed him across the head with her wand, following with a punch that crackled and exploded in a burst of dark magic. Staggering, stumbling, and gasping for breath, Raven gripped his sword and forced himself to stand.

As they passed through the clouds, the ship's engine suddenly gave out. The Black Crow plummeted, its deck now forming a wide angle with the horizon and its crew scrambling to the stern. Across the ship, the order to evacuate rang out even as the captain battled to the end of his strength. With the clouds now above, Aisha could clearly see their destination: An island, centered around a spiraling mountain and covered in lush greenery. There was something distinctly odd about it, though. This island's shore was not met by the ocean but by the wind and the entire mass of land floated hundreds of feet over the water. When she looked back to where Raven had collapsed, he was gone. Climbing across the railing and leaning up against the remains of a ten inch cannon, Raven leveled his left hand at Aisha and shot out a monstrous blast of flame that ripped through the thick steel deck as it hurtled toward its target. Jumping back, Aisha slid along the railing and grabbed onto the remnants of a mangled battery ten yards away, landing safely next to Rena and out of the fire's path. Aching and tired beyond words, Aisha emptied her last skin of water and glanced over the railing.

"Rena... if we're..." Aisha panted and sweat dripped from her bangs. "If we're going to do this, we've gotta do it now." Rena peered over the bow and confirmed the urgency of their condition. At the rate they were going, the Black Crow would crash into the floating island below in a few minutes. Judging by the violent tremors that tormented the ship's hull, she worried they might not even make it that far. From their scant cover, Rena nodded to Elsword and motioned to him silently just as the ship rumbled and faltered, entering a near vertical dive. If they had any time to spare before, it was now lost. Shifting her feet and fighting her fatigue, Rena drew back her bow and loosed an endless stream of arrows across the sky, overwhelming Raven with a river of needle-thin bolts. Raising his left arm to shield himself, he drove his sword into the deck and held himself steady as the battlements he stood on threatened to give way. While he was fighting his way through the storm of burning arrows, Elsword climbed the railing behind him and leapt through the air, putting all his strength into a single swing and hitting Raven squarely in the back with the flat of his blade. The force threw Raven across the deck to the heap of broken artillery where Aisha stood waiting. Righting himself in the air, Raven pulled his claw back to strike as he landed but Aisha met his strike with a wail of fire and shadows. As he recoiled from Aisha's spell, she drove her wand into the ruined cannon at her feet and a shining sigil burned into the steel beside her, overtaking Raven with a curtain of shimmering chains. Immediately she rained bursts of dark energy down on him, snapping his bindings with every blow until Aisha finally formed a huge, bristling orb of dark magic and tossed it into the air, smacking it into Raven with her wand and sending him flying toward the bow. As he fell, Rena took her place at the front of the ship, now its lowest point as it continued its rapid descent. Firing rapidly, Rena kept him aloft with the force of her arrows, piling bolts into his left arm and grazing his shoulders and side. Once he finally began to fall again, she leapt to the side and swung her leg out swiftly, catching him in the chest and slamming him against the deck. With a great, desperate gasp, Raven finally closed his eyes and drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

Only moments separated the Black Crow from its inevitable end as Rena scooped Raven up and pushed herself off of the deck. Soon, Aisha and Elsword joined her and the four of them fluttered through the air, joining hands as they fell and opening their parachutes together. As Rena and Aisha pulled the cords on their packs, however, nothing happened. Their hearts caught in their throats as they gathered around Elsword, clinging tightly as they waited for him to release his chute. With all the extra weight suddenly pressing against him from all sides, Elsword fumbled and squirmed uncomfortably, finally reaching the draw string to his parachute and pulling it firmly. Within seconds, a grand silk canopy unfurled above them, catching the wind and slowing their descent. Weary of unforeseen excitement, they all breathed deeply and looked on as the Black Crow raced toward the nearby mountainside. The bow cracked upon impact and the back half of the ship crumbled away, toppling down the mountain and careening off onto the plains below.

Still hundreds of feet above the floating island, Elsword put up a futile effort to shift himself into a more tolerable position. With Aisha hanging from his back and Rena pressing Raven and herself into his side, he was uncomfortable in more ways than one. Grimacing, he stared up at the retreating sky.

"How'd you both mess it up? It was so easy, you just pull the string."

"It's not our fault that you gave us busted parachutes!" Aisha poked her head over his shoulder and argued into his ear. Rena joined her, nodding and trying to speak as gently as she could while gasping for breath.

"She's right, these things are horribly unreliable. A lot of people have died trying to make them work."

Elsword scoffed. "It's just a big sheet on some strings. How could you mess that up?"

A coarse, unsettling sound disturbed the gentle breeze. Slowly, Elsword looked up to see a small tear spreading through the middle of his parachute.

"Everyone, hold on to me!" Rena wove her hand through Raven's belt as Elsword and Aisha latched onto her. In an instant, the parachute ripped in half and they all dropped through the sky. The horizon spun haphazardly as they plunged toward the wreckage of the Black Crow. The distance closed in the space of a heartbeat. With no time to wonder if it would work or not, Rena reached for her bowstring and pulled it back so far that her arm trembled and her fingers began to bleed. Just as the earth was about to swallow them whole, she released.


	19. Dreamless Sleep

Dreamless Sleep

* * *

A forest? No, the ground was far too smooth and even. Thick tendrils hung haphazardly across the walls. Vines? Rope? The air sparkled and a low, rolling echo swelled until the breeze burst with it's sound.

"Aisha! Aisha!"

Slowly, Aisha rolled her head to the side. Her name rang out clearly, but she was only just aware of its presence in the air. After a moment, her vision came into focus and the scene around her poured into her eyes and ears. All around, flat, soot covered steel surrounded her. The floor, the walls, the ceilings, and every fixture in sight was strangled by thick cords and bundled wire, each emerging from some unseen opening in the steel and disappearing down a nearby corridor. The air itself brimmed with a crisp, electric energy and small sparks of light flickered throughout the room as though a thousand tiny stars were being born and dying out every second. Wincing as pain shot through her neck, Aisha raised her head and saw Elsword kneeling beside her.

"Ugh..." Aisha pushed her hands into the ground and lifted herself up, resting on her elbows as she fought the heavy fatigue in her bones. "...What happened?"

Shifting his weight and crossing his legs, Elsword glanced aside at the darkened walls around them. "We're trapped, someplace."

Aisha surveyed the room around her, solid steel and dark panels covering every corner, highlighted by the faint iridescence of twisting wires and the sparkling air. Though she was still unable to see clearly, she immediately noticed a distinct absence in the area.

"Where's Rena? Is she okay!?"

"Yup~" Rena's voice called out from around the nearest corner, its melody strangely unsuited to their unearthly surroundings. "I'm just over here, watching after this one."

Aisha finally steadied herself and sat upright, pressing her hands into the floor in an attempt to stand. She faltered on her way up and nearly fell back to the ground, a swift hand reaching out to support her back. Before she could even get her feet beneath her, Elsword was standing and supporting her shoulders. Surprised by her sudden fall and the lack of impact, she blinked and looked up at Elsword's anxious face. He immediately blushed and his voice caught in his throat, averting his eyes as he pulled Aisha up and helped her to her feet.

"Thanks..." She muttered wearily as Elsword turned and walked away. With the dust and drowsiness shaken from her head, Aisha's memory of their fall from the Black Crow returned to her. Once their parachute gave way, Rena gathered them all together, and then...

"Wait... we crashed into the mountain though, didn't we? How did we get trapped?" Aisha coughed as she stepped over a pile of rubble, leaning on a glowing ring of wire for support as her feet wobbled beneath her. Before anyone could answer her, she raised her hand to the nearest wall and felt the sharp, jagged edge of ruptured steel. Beneath her fingers lay the remains of the heavy cannon mounted on the bow of the Black Crow.

"Ah, well... I didn't expect that to happen, but when I used the wind to cushion our fall, it pushed the ship just enough to tip over and block us in here..." Rena's voice was quiet and soothing, its timbre guiding Aisha through the dark. Though Rena had saved them all at the very last minute, there was no trace of sunlight in the air and the massive bulk of broken steel that barred their path would likely take months to move.

Still dazed from her fall, Aisha, pressed her hand against her forehead and took in her surroundings slowly. As she staggered across the dust laden ground, tiny dark spots clouded her vision and her head began to lighten. She tripped over a bundle of cord and caught herself on the remnants of the Black Crow's deck railing, holding herself upright until her dizziness passed.

"Here." Elsword rifled through his pack and offered Aisha a handful of dried fruit and hardtack, still avoiding direct eye contact. Until she saw the dirt covered, crumbled mess of food held out before her, she hadn't realized just how viciously her stomach had been rumbling in the past few minutes. More than a little embarrassed, she accepted the meager rations and did her best to choke them down. After a moment's unease, Aisha regained her composure and followed Elsword over to where Rena sat cradling Raven's head in her hands.

"Are you feeling okay?" Rena tilted her head toward Aisha, her eyes tinted with worry. "You were out a long time..."

"Eh?" Aisha perked up, her eyes widening in surprise. "How long was I asleep?"

The air danced as Rena giggle softly. "Only about seven hours. It should be morning now..."

Placing a hand across her stomach, Aisha realized why she had been so dizzy just moments ago. In fact, it was doubtful that any of them were well nourished and in good condition at this point. Plopping herself down on the most comfortable square of dirt-caked steel she could find, Aisha turned to Rena and then to the still unconscious Raven.

"Is he still..."

"No, he woke up for a little while and was behaving much more like a gentleman." Rena smiled slightly, "Although it seems that good behavior is what makes this thing on his arm shock him, so he passed out not too long after that."

"Rena..." Aisha's voice softened, her concern bleeding through. "Why did you decide to bring him along? Even if he's alright sometimes, he's not stable. What if he turns on us again?"

"You're right, he could..." Rena gazed down at Raven, her eyes swirling with a mixture of bittersweet sorrows. "But you know, when I was talking to him, I really felt like... like he has the potential to do a lot of good for the world, enough to overshadow all the horrible things he's done so far." She smiled lightly at Aisha, "I might be wrong of course, but... I guess I'm just being unreasonable."

Aisha and Elsword remained silent. Though neither was particularly comfortable with Raven's presence, Rena's compassion and optimism won them over. Before they could ponder the matter any further, their stomachs began to grumble once more. Aisha quickly patted herself down, searching for any scrap or remnant of food left in her belongings and finding none. Already operating on a deficit of food and sleep, they were all in dire need of relief. As Aisha scanned the room for any semblance of supplies, her eyes fell upon a trail of lights that led off into a darkened corridor.

"Hey, what's down there?" She pointed toward the flashing row of wires that fled into the shadows. Upon hearing her inquiry, Elsword frowned.

"All I found was more hallways so far. There might be a way out somewhere, but we can't move for now."

Aisha protested. "What? Why not? We need to get moving as soon as we can so we can find food and water."

"That's my fault... sorry..." Rena slowly extended her left leg and held her foot out, revealing a red, slightly swollen ankle. "I twisted it when we fell, and Elsword couldn't carry all three of us..."

Disheartened, Aisha dropped her shoulders and pushed herself up to her feet. Grabbing her wand and her grimoire, she headed over to the only exit and stared down at the stream of flashing wires within.

"I'm going out scouting."

"Wait, you shouldn't go alone." Rena looked up, pleadingly, "Elsword, go with her."

"No way. We're not gonna leave you alone with that guy." Scowling, Elsword glanced sidelong at Raven's sleeping face.

"It's alright... he's asleep right now anyway and we need to find an exit so that we can leave as soon as possible. We won't last more than a couple of days if we're stuck in here." Rena's voice was soft but her words weighed heavily in the air. Both Aisha and Elsword looked to her anxiously and grimaced. After negotiating glances with one another, they gathered up their equipment and headed off into the dark.

* * *

Moments waned into minutes as Elsword and Aisha continued their trek down the corridor, plunging deeper into the strange, artificial world of dull, humming lights and flickering wires. Even as the walls opened up, the atmosphere was still stifling. With dust as thick as skin on every surface, it was as though they were delving into an ancient crypt left unattended for hundreds of years. Despite its age, however, the area was filled with the faint glow of El. In fact, the entire area was brimming with energy, so much so that there was no doubt that Ruben's El was still somewhere on the island. That thought, at least, had occurred to everyone and was at least a little reassuring. Aisha, however, was a bit troubled. Of course, it's likely that Ruben's El was still on the island, but if there was no El here before, then there would have been no breeze to carry the dust that drowned the halls. As Aisha continued to ponder, Elsword glanced toward her.

"Hey, Aisha..."

"Huh?" Caught off guard, she nearly tripped over a pile of scrap metal. "What is it?"

Elsword's face was equal parts awkward and annoyed, though Aisha couldn't tell what he was so uncomfortable about until he said it outright. "Why did you come with us? Ah, no, that's not what I mean..." He mumbled to himself as they stepped slowly through the sea of forgotten lights. "You were going somewhere before the El got stolen, right? Why'd you stop just to help us find the El?"

"I guess it's because I haven't really stopped." Aisha hopped over behind Elsword, narrowly avoiding a cloud of grit and grime that poured from the unsettled ceiling. "I really wasn't going anywhere specific, so it didn't matter where I went along the way..."

A bit more comfortable and likewise more confused, Elsword peered back over his shoulder at Aisha. "So you were just going place for no reason?"

"No, not for no reason." She spoke sharply, pouting at the suggestion that she was merely wandering aimlessly. "I just don't know where I need to go..."

"You're not making any sense." Elsword turned and glared at her, clearly aggravated by his own unease and her contradictory response.

"It's just complicated, alright!?" The harsh echo of Aisha's voice scattered throughout the hall and burrowed into the dense clouds of dust and debris. She was immediately frustrated with herself, for being so ill-tempered and for being unable to give a clear answer to such a simple question.

"I'm sorry..." Reluctantly, Aisha conceded. "I wasn't actually traveling... I was exiled from my homeland, and Ruben was just the first place I ended up after being forced out."

More intrigued than confused at this point, Elsword stole a glance at Aisha while they made their way toward a faint light in the distance. "Why the hell'd they kick you out? Even if you're annoying sometimes you're way better than most people."

Aisha's eye twitched and she glared hard at him. "It was because I started complaining about the headmaster at my school. I just did it because he was an arrogant idiot, but then a lot of other girls and teachers joined in, and then..." Aisha was already losing herself in the details and Elsword was long since lost. Breathing in deeply, she searched her memory and traced her steps back to the beginning.

"The country I'm from is far off to the west, in the middle of a huge desert. Without using magic, there would be no food or water anywhere for miles around, so almost everyone who lives there is a mage and all the schools are magic academies."

Elsword struggled to imagine such a place. Although he knew there must be hundreds of normal people who just happened to be able to use magic there, he kept imagining it as a country full of Aishas of all different sizes. He shook his head out and waited for Aisha to continue.

"When everyone turns twelve, we go through an inheritance ceremony. All of the old mages and parents and grandparents come and gave us presents and talked to us about all the awkward things about growing up, and then about how they developed as mages. Most people think it's just a boring, awkward day where we get presents, and it normally is, but mine was the worst thing to ever happen to me..." Aisha paused and for a while she said nothing, her mind fixed on a moment in the distant past. "Nothing really happened for most of the day, since I didn't have any family to lecture me or talk about the future, but then when we all gathered together for our school party, the headmaster came up and gave me a ring."

Elsword immediately recoiled in horror. "Y-You had to marry an old man?"

Aisha had to stop herself from laughing. "No, although that would've been a lot worse, actually." She slowed down as the hall opened into a wide, eerie chamber. All around, the wires and cords that had been twisting and crawling along the walls converged at the base of a large fixture in the middle of the room. While its base was clearly a composite of steel and electric wiring, it was the faintly glowing lid on top that caught Aisha's interest. As she approached to investigate, she noticed Elsword's desperate glare upon her.

"Well, what happened?" He looked as though he had just been denied the ending to a bedtime story. Setting her curiosity aside, Aisha brushed off a small, humming box and sat down.

"All of the gifts you get in the inheritance ceremony are supposed to help make your magic stronger, but that ring was actually just a curse." She scowled fiercely as she recalled that day. "It sealed away almost all of my magic power and then it disappeared!"

"But you got it back, right?" Elsword broached the subject warily as he took note of the venom oozing form Aisha's eyes.

"No, I didn't. That's why I spent the next three years trying to get him fired." She huffed and fumed and soon Elsword was the unfortunate victim of her glowering.

"That sucks but..." He hesitated, unsure of whether what he was about to say would agitate the already boiling Aisha. "I mean, you're already really strong, so it's not that bad, right?"

"You don't get it. I had to start over from nothing... it's one thing to learn all the spells and incantations, but the strength of your magic comes from your will, and they took almost all of that away. I was the strongest mage in the school when I was just ten, and it was the first time a girl was the top of the class, ever! The idiot headmaster didn't want all the boys huddled together and sobbing because they couldn't beat me though, so he used that stupid ring to..." Aisha growled and slammed her fist into the wall, shaking a thick cloud of dust down onto her. Coughing, she waved her hand in front of her face to clear the air and resumed her fuming.

"When I started complaining about it to some of the teachers, they got together and tried to stage a vote to get rid of the headmaster... for a while nothing came of it, but after a couple years, everybody got more and more worked up about it, about girls being cheated and not being allowed to do certain jobs... then, right before they were going to hold a vote, the governor exiled everybody who wanted to vote against the headmaster. After that, I just didn't want to be anywhere near that place, so I went as far away as I could." Aisha leaned back, her eyes fixed on something in the distance that was just out of reach. Her story was far from complete and nowhere near as simple as she had stated it, but for the time she was too exhausted to consider those memories. Now leaning against the glowing fixture nearby, Elsword stared aimlessly into the shadows.

"I-" He began a sentence unsuccessfully and redoubled his efforts. "I didn't expect that. I always thought you were some kind of princess or rich kid or something like that." His mouth twisted up uncomfortably and he turned as far away from her as he could.

"What?" Aisha shook her head out, surprised and befuddled by his image of her. "Where did you get that idea?"

"I don't know! That's just how it seemed to me." Elsword blushed lightly, his voice shifting into a defensive tone. Beginning to blush herself, Aisha brushed herself off and straightened her skirt.

"Really?" She looked around anxiously, uncertain of how to deal with a compliment coming from such a crash boy. After a moment, she had an idea and grinned. "So you really think I'm just like a princess?"

Elsword squirmed, already ill at ease and quickly sliding into an unfavorable position. Though he knew it would be a foolish maneuvre, he decided to bite back rather than admit something unprecedented. Scoffing, her turned and glanced at Aisha over his shoulder. "Yeah, because you always act so spoiled."

Aisha immediately scowled and shot up to her feet. "Do you want me to punch you!?" As she stormed over to confront Elsword, he shifted his weight and pushed off of the dust laden lid next to him. A surge of electricity shot through the air and the strange casket in the midst of the room began to buzz and whirl, its sides emblazoned with glimmering signs and numbers as it sprung to life. With their squabble forgotten, Aisha and Elsword stared warily, the entirety of their attention fixed on the lid of the quivering coffin. As the fixture began to tremble and shake, the dust on its surface scattered and fell revealing the vague outline of a lifeless body.

"Look! There's somebody inside that thing..." Aisha slowly approached the casket, gripping her wand and steadying her breath. Elsword circled around the other side, peering in through the milky, dirt covered glass that separated them from the occupant of this mechanical tomb. Cold mist shot out from all around the lid as it rose and slid off to the side, exposing its captive for what could very well be the first time in centuries. A series of sharp snaps shot through the air as dozens of wires and cables popped out of their sockets and soon the entire room was full of flashing screens and flickering bulbs. A series of monotonous beeps and clicks filled the air as monitors all around the room sprung to life, each of them displaying a single, cryptic phrase: 'Good Morning, Your Majesty'

A pale, delicate hand reached over the edge of the coffin. As the haunting symphony of whirling machines and chirping monitors filled the air, a pair of empty, golden eyes opened and peered out into the luminous world beyond their tomb. With a gentle sigh, a petite, regal young girl arose from her slumber, stretching her arms above her and yawning quietly. From her lips, she issued a calm, measured proclamation.

"Code Eve, Start Up Sequence complete."


	20. The Queen's Procession

The Queen's Procession

* * *

Thirteen-hundred winters past, the shores of Altera lay frozen beneath the stagnant sea. In a single moment of brutal trauma, the light of El surrounding the island vanished, snatching the spark of life from its inhabitants and plunging the domain of the nasod into a deathly silence. Days and weeks lingered on, each ending just the same as it began. Scattered helplessly across the plains and mountainside, the lifeless shells of a million nasod lay in restless repose. Drones and workers fell in the midst of their labor, their arms eternally reaching out toward their errant tools. Doctors slumped over alongside their patients, their faces vacant and hollow while their hands lay frozen across the shoulders and faces of the stricken. The great guardians of the outer plains stood as still as they had in life, their steel as good as stone without the light of El. High upon the mountainside and standing watch over the world below, the queen of the nasod rested feebly against the edge of a weathered balcony , her eyes petrified and opened wide as she gazed out across the broken remains of her people. Time, as well as life, had abandoned them all.

Untold months passed the island by and each day witnessed the same silent tableau. As months gathered into years, however, something changed. A small, fragile glimmer of radiant blue fell from the sky and nestled itself in the sandy soil of Altera's shore. With its light beaming out across the withered grass, the fallen El crystal called out to the lifeless isle, beckoning its residents into motion. Creaking, groaning steel clambered from the edges of the El's light as a dozen crippled nasod dragged their shattered souls toward the glowing stone. The years of death and stagnation had whittled their lives down to the frailest of breaths and gradually, most of the struggling nasod gasped and fell to the ground, silent even in the shadow of the El. Eventually, there was only a single, tiny nasod left at the crystal's side, a small maintenance drone with only a single working arm. Though it could scarcely move on its own, it scooped the El stone up and held it close, dragging itself across the ground mere inches at a time. Hours passed and evening fell as the tiny nasod carried on, pulling itself over the plains without pause.

Inches. Hours. By the following morning, the weight of the El and journey of a mile on its bare joints left the frail herald battered and mangled, its eyes flickering dimly in the daylight as it pulled itself toward a pile of torpid bodies. As the El neared, many of the lifeless nasod sparked and hummed, giving up their last living gasp before returning to their endless sleep. Sitting in the shade of a short transmitting tower, an aged, rusted porter hacked and moaned as his bearings began to move. Just a few feet away, he spotted the shimmering El and its tiny herald, whimpering with every agonizing twist of its arm. Still faint and disoriented, the rusted porter hobbled over and peered down at the tiny creature that grasped the El, scooping it up in his trembling hands and holding it close to his face.

A rasping, hoarse chirp issued from the mouth of the small nasod. Reaching out with its weak, ragged hand, it offered up the El to the rusted porter along with a single, unintelligible cry. With its message conveyed, the frail herald collapsed, finally able to commend its weary arms to their rest. Heeding the call of its brethren, the elder nasod clutched the El firmly against its chest and marched on toward the imperial palace. With uneven feet and a faulty knee, the rusted porter shuffled across the wasted plains, through the grey and stolid barrens that were once thriving markets and tranquil parks, over the vacant roads and finally to the great, gaping gates of the nasod's capitol. Though the gates were open wide and the halls inviting, the aged porter found himself defeated by the slightest of foes: A steep granite staircase. Unable to raise his feet high enough to ascend, he wandered throughout the antechamber, his muffled voice reaching out into the silence.

"Milady. Milady. Milady. Milady." He shuffled across the lower halls and throughout the hanging gardens until he finally saw a faint, subtle movement at the edge of the El's light. Approaching steadily, he happened upon a young girl, her arms wrapped tightly around a brightly colored drone. As he drew closer, her eyes flickered and her power core whirled and hummed as it regained its vigor. While she was still dreary-eyed and drowsy, the elderly porter pressed the El crystal into her hands and pleaded with her.

"Milady. Milady. Milady." His voice was strained, wavering as he fought to explain his intentions and dropping as he realized that his broken body could only convey that single, desperate word. Once she had the El in her hands, however, the young nasod felt as though she understood what it was that the old porter wanted to tell her. Nodding softly, she pulled herself to her feet and headed toward the central staircase, leaving the rusted porter to sit and take his final rest beneath shade of a lonely arch.

Racing up the palace stairs, the young girl let out a sharp, painful gasp, wheezing as she forced her feet forward. A violent spasm shot through her body and she flinched, falling against the stair railing and nearly toppling over. Panting heavily and fighting her failing limbs, she dragged herself up to the balcony where the faint glow of the El released the whispering breeze. Scattering a delicate lock of ivory, the captured wind swept across the face of the small, slumbering queen of the nasod. As the El approached, Eve blinked and her consciousness returned to her. In her memory, a moment earlier she had been staring out across the skyline of Altera's war stricken cities. Now, all she saw was a barren land littered with corpses. Only six days after her coronation, Eve's empire had fallen.

"Milady Eve..." A small, fluttering voice called out to the queen. "Milady Eve... take this..." The young girl approached wearily, her eyes flickering and her arms shaking as she offered up the El to Eve. Carefully, Eve reached out and accepted the font of life, holding it with a grave reverence. She took a moment to process the cold, grey landscape below and then reached out to take the young girl's hand.

"Come with me. We must find the Empress." Eve headed back into the palace and the young nasod followed along beside her, panting and coughing as they ascended a flight of stairs. The hallways of the palace were full of guards and aristocrats laying prone across the marble floors, their lives flickering out in the wind as Eve approached with the El. No matter how many bodies she checked, she found no one alive. Soon, even the young nasod at her side was on the verge of collapse.

"Do you need to rest?" Eve stood in place as the young girl lowered herself to the ground.

"No, but... I cannot move my legs anymore... Milady Eve, please go on..."

Eve glared sternly at her. "If you leave the sphere of light from the El, you will die. We will go to the infirmary and fix your legs."

"Don't..." The young girl coughed and a stream of thick, dark fluid spilled from her mouth and burst from her side. "You have to save... everyone... but if I stay in the light, I'll keep breaking-ing-ing."

A moment's glance told Eve that this was true. It was more than age and wear that burdened the young nasod; her entire body was falling apart, and staying in the light of the El only hastened that decay. Eve's eyes trembled and mouth fell open as she backed away, preserving her young companion in the cold, breathless world beyond the light of the El. She turned away quickly and marched on toward the imperial throne where the empress held her court.

Balanced on a smooth steel track, a small dais waited to ferry passengers along the outer edge of the mountain and into the imperial court. Eve approached the control panel and tapped it twice. Silence. She quickly deduced that the electrical lines and generators were too far away for the light of the El to reach them, so she resigned herself to walking along the slender railing all the way up to the top of the mountain. Below her, the plains and cities held the bodies of the nasod race, extinguished in its entirety save for its queen. As Eve rounded the final bend, she saw that the gates of the imperial court lay open. Grasping the El tightly, she rushed inside, past the rows of fallen courtiers and over the bodies of the princesses and nobles as she searched frantically for the one person who could fix even that which was beyond repair. Sprawled out on the ground just behind the throne, Eve found the empress of Altera. As she approached and held out the El, nothing happened.

"Astarte. Astarte!" Eve called out in vain, receiving no response for her effort. Kneeling alongside the empress, she pressed the glowing El against her chest and called out to her again. Silence. Astarte's mane of jet spilled across the pale marble floor, her face smooth and frigid as she lay with her arms scattered at her side and her legs bent out unnaturally. For nearly an hour Eve sat next to the late empress, hoping that she would awaken and wondering what would become of the nasod. She was the queen, but she had only been queen for six days in her mind, even though in reality she had spent several years atop the balcony looking out over Altera. Surely, the empress would be better at this. Surely, there would be princesses and ministers who were still alive and merely sleeping in the absence of El. Surely, she wasn't alone. After gathering her resolve, she rose to her feet and made her rounds about the court, holding the El out toward everyone in the area and finding none still living. Astarte. Princess Ishtar. Tanit. Lilith. The old kings of the imperial senate. The ministers of the court. All lay motionless as their bodies bathed in the light of El, their breath stolen and replaced by a profound stillness. After nearly half a day in the imperial court, Eve accepted her role as the sole surviving member of the nasod race.

Though she had been queen for only six days, she had no trouble deciding on her next course of action. If El energy could sustain her, then perhaps, if she could find a way to transmit that energy to Altera's Core, perhaps she could infuse other nasod with that energy directly instead of by proxy. On the first day, Eve grafted the El into forehead, fusing it to her power supply and allowing her to work more freely. On the second day, she started running power lines to the Core. A quick test confirmed that she could transfer the energy provided by through electrical lines and directly into the Core, allowing it to operate just as if it were in the presence of an El crystal. On the third day, she began the arduous task of twisting, binding, hauling, and laying out power lines from the Core to its control room high on the mountainside.

Scarcely pausing for rest let alone sleep, Eve walked the length of Altera's imperial palace thirteen times over in the space of each day. In every moment, a sharp, stinging pain filled her chest. She told herself that it was not loneliness, because nasod cannot be lonely. It was her duty to restore her people to their former glory. It was necessary to establish a sense of community and solidarity. More than anything, she felt that it was essential to revive the nasod race so that she could be sure that there was at least one intelligent species on the planet. Humans, after all, were highly suspect.

After four days of tireless labor, Eve encountered a problem. The energy of the El could not be transmitted without an intermediary. If she were to separate it from herself, it would never be able to power the Core. As such, she would have to be the power converter for the El so that it might give birth to a new generation of nasod. Her work was far from finished. On the fifth day, she crafted a capsule for herself, a living coffin that would keep her alive at the most minimal levels, allowing as much of the El's energy to be transferred to the Core as possible. On the sixth day, she faced a much more daunting decision. Since she would have to enter an endless sleep in order to power the Core, there would be no one left to oversee its operation and no one to protect the newborn nasod. Returning to the imperial court, she searched the minds of each courtier and noble for any suitably intact memories. The empress, the royalty, the ministers of the court, all were too far gone for Eve to obtain any useful information. Finally, she was able to extract the physical memory of the old kings of the senate and compile it into a full history of the magnificent nasod. Eve spent the rest of the evening at her console, painstakingly constructing the Core's first creation: her chosen successor. He would be something new made of something ancient, a revival of the old kings who once ruled the far reaches of the empire. By the time she had finished, the seventh day had dawned upon her.

With her work nearly completed, sleep was the only task left to Eve. Shutting down her console and closing off the Core's control room from the rest of the mountain, she climbed into her capsule and attached herself to the Core's power supply. As the lid of her casket closed upon her, Eve began to tremble. She told herself it was just the cold and soon, she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

* * *

Now Eve stood before two humans, each bearing a weapon, and all around her the air bristled with the energy of El. The room around her was covered with a thick coating of dust and debris, the result of several centuries of neglect. As Eve stared out at the Core's control room, she saw that the power lines running from her capsule to the Core were frayed and sending sparks into the air. Moreover, there was no indication that any nasod had been in the control room since she sealed herself away. What had happened? Had she failed? Did the Core manage to produce a new generation of nasod? What were humans doing in the resting place of the queen? Eve's mind filled with questions and, though she denied that she would ever feel such a thing, anxiety. She wanted to know the status of the Core. She wanted to know what became of her people. Most of all, she wanted to know why anyone would allow her capsule to be so covered in filth. As the tension mounted within her, she gazed down at the humans before her. A red-haired boy and a petite girl stared at her in awe and disbelief. Before Eve could gather herself and begin a proper interrogation of these intruders, the red-haired boy shut his mouth and scowled.

"What the hell? It's just a kid."

The queen of the nasod would not suffer such indignity. Eve answered with a firm slap across his face.

* * *

Author's Afterword: Hi everyone! I don't do afterwords as a rule, but I thought I should let you all know about a couple of things. I don't wanna clog up this chapter with my rambling though, so please go to my writing blog [rhblithely . tumblr . c om] to see more.


	21. Awake in the Afternoon

Awake in the Afternoon

* * *

"Ow! What the hell was that for?" Elsword held his hand to his cheek and glared sharply at Eve.

"Idiot!" Aisha turned and admonished him with a fierce stare, "What did you expect? You just went into a lady's room while she was asleep and stood there staring at her, so obviously she'd react that way."

An accusatory finger interrupted their squabble as Eve gazed down at them harshly. "Who are you!? Answer me at once!"

"Why should we tell you?" Elsword scowled, sliding his hand away from the bright red blemish on the side of his face.

"Elsword!" Aisha jumped in just in time to save him from another painful reprimand. Turning to Eve, she clasped her hands together and apologized. "We're really, really sorry! We got trapped in here after the ship we were on crashed into the mountainside and we're just looking for a way out."

Eve glared at her coldly, "Where are the guards? What have you done to the nasod here?"

"What are you talking about?" Elsword scowled at her. "There's nobody here but you and us."

Eve shifted her eyes around the room and confirmed their isolation. She searched her memory and found no errors; she had indeed ordered the Core to post sentries outside of its control room, and yet there was no sign of anyone ever having entered the control room after Eve sealed herself in her capsule. Distressed, she raised her hands before her and the glowing outline of a keyboard and console spread out beneath her fingers. As her hands danced across the keys, a jarring buzz rang through the air and a stream of bright letters flashed through the air. Frowning, Eve repeated her commands and received the same results.

"...I cannot access the Core..." She hid her anxiety and turned back to Aisha and Elsword, her gaze scathing and suspicious. "What have you done to the Core?"

Elsword glared back at her, his face flush with frustration. "Nothing! This place was already trashy when we got here."

"You could say it more gently than that..." Aisha glared at him, aggravated by his persistent lack of tact. Though they had both braced themselves against another contemptuous glower, Eve's mind was elsewhere. Neither of the humans before her seemed to be lying and the unkempt state of her surroundings gave credence to their claims... and yet, she could not accept the thought that she had failed. Her stoic gaze faltered as her fingers raced across her console, her every attempt resulting in a complete failure. No access. No information. No answer. By now, her frustration and distress were plain upon her face as her doubtful whispers escaped into the air.

"...no, but the Core... it had to have started..." Her mouth hung open and panic crept into the corners of her eyes.

"Um..." Aisha approached cautiously, "Is everything alright? Are you okay?"

"I-I am fine!" Eve startled at the sound of her voice and nearly fell over backwards. Gathering herself, she stepped out of her capsule and floated gracefully to the floor below, regaining her stern, regal bearing as she stood before Aisha and Elsword. _I must find out what has happened to the Core... but the presence of these humans... perhaps... it is a cause for concern..._

Eve crossed her arms as she addressed her audience. "Tell me how you have come here."

"We told you, we crashed into a mountain." Irritated and exhausted, Elsword was fast approaching the end of his patience. Eve answered with a relentless barrage.

"Where was your destination? When did you depart? What was your ship's cargo? Why were you flying over Altera?"

"Alright, fine!" Elsword scowled and Aisha glared at him as they prepared to recount their travels to Eve. Bickering all along the way, they traced the trail of the past month for Eve and she listened intently. With every passing battle and every mention of the nasod, she felt her head swim and her thoughts plunged into a bittersweet agony. She had not programmed the Core to make nasod for battle. She had not told the Core to create mere machines without souls for humans to use as pack mules or soldiers. Her countenance sank into the sea of her memory and the dull pang of doubt ached in her chest. By the time Aisha had finished her recollection of the fighting on board the Black Crow, Eve was glancing uncomfortably across the room and muttering incoherent anxieties to herself. Sensing her distraction, Elsword and Aisha paused.

"Are you okay?" Aisha spoke as softly as she could, but Eve did not answer. She turned aside to Elsword and lowered her voice, "We need to get back to Rena, and this room is obviously a dead end but..." She looked over to Eve, "Would she be alright on her own?"

"Maybe, but it'd feel wrong leaving a kid alone in a place like this..." Elsword glanced over at Eve, an unsteady mixture of concern and frustration stirring in his eyes. Aisha sighed, exasperated.

"You keep calling her a kid... you realize she's a Nasod, right? She could be a thousand years old."

Elsword glanced off into the corner, hurrying to conceal his surprise. "I knew that."

"...You're probably right anyway, even if she doesn't need help, it feels wrong to leave her here when she's so worked up..." Aisha listened carefully as the even staccato of Eve's anxious breaths spilled out across the room. "She doesn't seem like a bad person either."

"Yeah..." Elsword tilted his head back and then nodded. "We should ask her anyway. She might know the way out too..." His eyes narrowed. "...or she might just try to hit me again."

"Why are you so hung up on that?" Aisha glowered. "Was it really that bad?"

Grumbling, Elsword surrendered and walked over to Eve. "Hey. What's your name?"

Wrenched free of her solitary contemplations, Eve blinked and turned from Elsword to Aisha, blushing lightly as she realized that she hadn't bothered to introduce herself. "I-I am Eve, Queen of the Nasod..."

"The queen?" Aisha stared in shock, shaking her head out and calmed herself. "Um... So, Eve, do you want to come with us and look for a way out of here?"

Eve composed herself and entered a series of strokes into her console. In the space of a second, her console vanished and a bright, iridescent stream of lights spread throughout the hallway, twisting around corners and rushing headlong into the darkness. Turning back to Aisha, she nodded softly. "I have marked the exit. Once we leave, I will need to go to the Core, but first... I would like to see the human with the metal arm."

* * *

"Feeling any better?" Rena smiled faintly as Raven raised his head and shook the sleep from his right arm. Just waking from his reluctant rest, he propped himself up against a pile of rubble and slid his hand back across his forehead.

"Yeah..."

"Good!" Rena beamed brightly in the dim, dusty glow of sparks. "I was starting to think you'd be out for days."

Resting his right elbow on his knee, Raven hung his head and cast his gaze at the ground. "You should have left me on my ship. There was no need to save me."

Rena giggled lightly. "Are you still thinking like that? You know that suicidal thoughts are really unattractive."

Raven hesitated, taken aback as he looked up at her "Why would you take the risk of keeping me alive though? I've already proven that I'm a threat to you."

"Oh, you mean on the ship when you pretended to fight us so that we'd feel pressured and kill you to escape?" Rena grinned slyly and Raven recoiled, unaware that he had been so obvious. "It's one thing to be cautious, but someone like you should be able to at least get a few solid hits if you were really trying. And~" Rena tilted her head to the side and closed her eyes cheerfully, "If that really was you fighting seriously, we've got nothing to worry about anyway."

Raven chuckled bitterly. "I suppose that's true..."

"Although, I have conditions." Rena held her hand out and pointed a single finger toward the sky. Raven stared at her, confounded.

"Conditions?"

"Yes. First off, no more trying to throw your life away. I'm not going to tell you what to do, but you have to stay alive, alright?" She raised a second finger. "Next, you've got to at least help us get back the El. If you're trying to make up for the things you've done, this should be at least a start on that."

Raven sat quietly for a moment, his thoughts in conflict as he considered Rena's conditions. He felt miserable in every waking moment, his left arm tormented him constantly with pain and filled his head with the worst memories of his life, and he held firmly onto his spite and rage... but at the same time, he knew that wallowing in self-loathing and bitterness would do nothing to diminish the suffering of the people he had hurt. Abandoning his pride to the wastes of memory, he looked up to Rena and nodded.

"Alright, I'll do it." He winced as his left arm tensed and trembled. "At least, for as long as I can."

"Great~" The air lit up as Rena smiled at him. "I know it's difficult, but I'm sure you'll be able to make up for everything you've done if you keep at it."

"No..." Raven stared darkly into the distance. "It's too much to expect that I could atone for my crimes, but... you may have been right when you said it was possible to overshadow them."

Rena's smile softened and her eyes slipped into a haze of reminiscence. "That's right... there are some things you can't expect to ever be forgiven for, but that doesn't mean you've got permission to stop living either."

Raven poured over her words, weighing her tone and sensing the strife that lay beneath it. "When you talk like that, it sounds like you've been through even more than I have."

"Well, I am a lot older than you after all." Rena perked up and winked at him. "Though I couldn't say if I've been through more or not since I don't know very much about you."

"I suppose not..." Raven lowered his face as he sorted through his memories, reluctant to revisit any part of his past for fear of waking his left arm. Ignoring his tacit refusal, Rena hopped over on her good leg and planted herself on a bare patch of steel next to Raven, gazing at him inquisitively.

"So, what happened? I know there are probably things you don't want to talk about, but I'd at least like to know how you got ahold of a giant airship, or maybe how you lost your arm?"

"That-" A sudden emptiness halted Raven's recollection. A moment ago, he was drowning in his regrets. Now, he stood in the midst of a great void. "I don't know... I can't remember... any of it." A bead of cold sweat rolled onto his brow and his heart pounded in his chest.

"Are you okay?" Rena reached out and placed a hand on his right shoulder. "Sorry, you don't need to-"

"No, I'm fine..." Raven shut his eyes tightly and then breathed in deeply. "There are a few gaps in my memory. Probably because of this." He held out his left arm and shroud of fierce disdain fell over his face. Withdrawing her hand and easing back, Rena studied the jagged steel claw at the end of Raven's arm.

"What is that arm, really? It's not just armor, and it's not a normal prosthetic either."

A harsh discord grated against Rena's ears as the claw closed into a fist. "It's from the nasod." Raven's voice was cold and low as his shadow danced across the wall, flitting about as the faint electric glow of artificial lights raced around the room. "The airship as well. I don't know how or when, but they definitely came from the nasod."

"You mean that there are still nasod alive somewhere in the world?" Rena's voice carried an ounce of uncertainty, though she could find no better explanation herself.

"I was saved by one of them three years ago, when I was on the run from the Velder garrison. I don't know what happened after that, but soon after that I was learning to pilot the Black Crow..."

"Wait a second..." Rena paused, the soft blue radiance around them casting a fluid, coursing shadow across her face. "I think you should start from further back than that. Why were you running from Velder's knights?"

In the silence that followed, the air darkened and the flickering lights retreated from the room, leaving Rena and Raven enveloped within the gentle darkness. "It was my foolishness that got me to that point. I'd always tried to be a knight, but I'm a commoner by birth and the nobles of Velder would never accept me into their ranks. So I started a company of mercenaries and fought for the crown every chance that I got. I thought that I could prove myself and that we'd all be knighted someday, and I was stupid for believing it."

Rena sat attentively as Raven steadied his breath, the air swelling with a chill gravity as he spoke of his early youth. "My comrades from those days were the real Crow mercenaries... the men you saw on my ship were just thugs I hired from side streets and saloons. All of the original Crows were killed because I naively thought that a sword could actually change an entire country. I started pushing our company harder and harder and we became more capable and experienced than even the royal guard. In some battles, we were the only ones on the field fighting for Velder. I thought that would be enough to prove our worth to the crown, but the nobles still spat in our faces. There was a young knight commander, Alexander, who insulted us openly and rallied the crown to have us disbanded. He was bitter and ambitious and wanted to make a hero of himself in battle, but with the Crows on every front line, he never even had a chance to draw his sword. Stupidly, I challenged him to a duel to defend the honor of my company and I won." Raven scoffed sharply. "A week later, I was arrested for assaulting a noble and thrown into prison."

Rena gave a wry smile. "I guess not much has changed since the last time I was there then..." Raven turned and blinked at her quizzically, waiting for her to continue. "Ah, well, the same thing happened to me a long time ago, although I skipped out of town before they could catch me. I suppose that wasn't really an option for you though."

"No, it wasn't." Raven scowled, clenching his fist tightly as he stifled his boiling spite. "After I was captured, my fiance led the rest of the Crows into the dungeon and they broke me out. After that-"

"Wait, your fiance..." Rena cut him off and tilted her head in toward him. "Was that Seris?"

Raven's voice caught in his throat and his mouth wrinkled up uncomfortably. "Yes..."

"So, she's the one you mistook me for when we were on the ship then, right?"

"...She looked a lot like you." Raven's face fell to the floor and his voice sank even further. "The guards had all left their posts and the outer gates were unlocked. We had no idea at the time that it was a trap, but we found out as soon as we got outside. A full company of knights surrounded us once we were in the street. We fought our way through them, but there were already guards posted at our barracks and at every gate out of the city. We scaled the walls and made it into the forest just outside the city before Alex and his men caught up with us." By now, Raven's voice had gained a coarse edge and his eyes filled with fire as he remembered the death of the Crow mercenaries. "When we tried to surrender, he lashed me to a tree and made me watch while he executed everyone else..."

His voice cracked as he said 'everyone' and Rena knew that he was only thinking of one particular comrade's death. Though she expected his gloom to persist, he quickly raised his head and his shoulders relaxed.

"After that, Alex left me for dead and pulled his men out of the woods. Just a few hours after that, that's when a group of nasod found me and carried me off. I can't say what happened after that, but the next thing I remember is being on the deck of the Black Crow..." Raven's head dropped back on his shoulders and he stared up at the ceiling.

"I see. That's how you ended up so grouchy and morbid." Rena jabbed Raven lightly with her elbow and he glared at her, somewhere between shock and guilt as he struggled for a reply. He looked as though he had just realized his error after a good scolding and he answered meekly.

"Yeah..."

Rena laughed softly and gave Raven a warm smile. "You've gone through a lot of pain though, and I won't tell you to forget it... but is it really doing you any good to keep torturing yourself over your past?"

Caught off guard, Raven found himself completely at a loss. He ran his right hand over his head and tried to organize the mess of his memory, finally leaning back and showing a small, subtle smile. "When you say it like that, it sounds like it would be easy to stop."

"I wouldn't say it'll be easy, but it is pretty simple." Rena grabbed a bundle of wire and pulled herself up, slipping on her way and nearly falling on her back. Immediately, Raven rose to his feet and offered her his right hand. "Ah, thanks. My leg's healed all the way yet, and I'm a bit worried about Aisha and Elsword." She closed her hand around his and pulled herself up to her feet as Raven nodded firmly.

"Alright. Here." He held his arm out and Rena leaned over onto his shoulder, wrapping her hand around his neck for support. Raven was suddenly highly conscious of the fact that he hadn't showered in the past four days and instantly grimaced, though Rena gave no indication of any unease. Rather, she grinned happily at him and pointed at the nearby corridor.

"Okay, let's go! If we hurry, maybe we can sneak up on them and catch them getting along or maybe even holding hands." Her grin quickly became a devious smirk and Raven drew back slightly. He had just been pulled violently from a life of endless vengeance and into something he still couldn't quite fathom. Still, he felt a vague sense of calm wash over him as he helped Rena over the mess of rubble and wires all around. It had been ages since he allowed himself to grieve and even longer since he considered the possibility of having a future. Speaking to Rena had been... Cathartic. Although he had no idea where he was headed, for the first time in years, Raven felt his feet moving forward.


	22. The Purity of Life

The Purity of Life

* * *

"Nnngh!" A coarse grunt crashed against the walls of a cramped supply closet as Raven writhed atop a cold steel table. Three layers of glistening mystic chains wrapped tightly around his body, holding him fast as spasms and bursts of electricity shot through his limbs. To his left, Eve shifted her hands rapidly between her console and a soldering iron, plunging her hands deep into the open core of Raven's left arm. Each time she fused a circuit or altered the arm's programming, a massive shock flowed out into Raven's shoulder and spread throughout his body. Sweat rolled down his neck and face as his limbs thrashed and rattled about, threatening to break through their brittle bindings.

"Hold him down! I cannot finish if he keeps moving!" Eve turned to Aisha, her voice crisp and commanding. Standing at Raven's feet, Aisha stood clutching her wand, pressing it into the ground and wavering as the chains holding Raven began to snap. Frantic, she turned aside to Elsword and glared fiercely.

"Elsword, give me a hand here!"

Eyes wide and sharp, Elsword released Raven's right arm and rushed over to Aisha's side, slamming his hand on top of hers and concentrating on the binding sigil. Within seconds, a swirl of light encircled the chains and they doubled in strength, holding Raven in place as another pained gasp escaped his clenched teeth. Seeing Raven's body wracked with pain, Elsword glanced over at Rena uneasily.

"Hey, is he gonna be alright?"

"Nng... I'm fine." Raven raised his head for a moment before another jolt threw it back against the table with a loud thud.

"No, maybe we should take a break for a while." Standing at his side, Rena looked over his face, its features twisted in agony as a thin trail of blood ran out from the corner of his mouth.

"No!" Raven gasped and panted heavily. "Keep going!"

Still working at a furious pace, Eve nodded to him and carried on. After a few moments, she set her tools aside and held her hand out over the exposed circuits in Raven's arm.

"I need to reboot the processor. Please stand back." A small, crackling orb of swirling energy gathered in Eve's hand, casting a sea of shadows across the wall. As everyone else stood clear, she thrust her hand down into the open guts of Raven's arm and the room went dark.

* * *

Two hours earlier, a cloud of dust and grime swept across the ground as Rena and Raven made their way through a dim, cluttered corridor. For the past few minutes, all they had seen were dirt-caked cords and small piles of rubble and wire scattered throughout the halls but now, as they neared a narrow intersection, an unearthly glow rose from the ground and bathed them in a veil of blue. As they neared the light ahead, the faint echo of light footfall rang out through the air and Raven stopped. Dimly in the distance, the pale gleam of ivory approached. Raven glanced to his right and Rena nodded, propping herself up against the wall and drawing her bow as Raven readied his sword and raised it toward the darkness. Soon, a pair of golden eyes cut through the shadows and glistened brightly, moving forward with a steady, level gait. Just as Rena took aim at the ghostly figure before them, a lively voice called out to them.

"Hey, Rena!" Elsword waved aimlessly as he stepped into view. "What're you guys doing out here?"

Rena smiled brightly, a devious glimmer in her eyes. "Well, you two were taking your time. We thought maybe you had eloped."

A quick cough issued from the shadows, followed immediately by a nauseous gasp. "With him!? No way!" Aisha's adamant protest wafted through the air, filtered through a cloud of silver dust that billowed out across the floor and over Rena's feet. "We found somebody though. She said she'd show us the way out." Another round of coughing preceded a thunderous sneeze as Aisha made her way through the mist of grime that fell from the walls. Following close behind her, a regal figure of ivory and jet glided effortlessly into the light. The dust and dirt that hung in the breeze fled in her presence, retreating to the corners as though it had been forcibly denied entry into the very air around her. With her arms crossed and her eyes fixed on Raven's left arm, the Queen of the Nasod stood silently in the midst of the wavering shadows as Aisha hurried alongside to introduce her.

"This is Eve, she's- ah-" Aisha's face wrinkled up tightly as she fought off another sneeze. Next to her, Elsword stifled a laugh and Aisha turned to glare at him.

Taking note of their new discovery, Rena lowered her bow and pulled herself forward, leaning down to meet Eve at eye level. "Ah, I didn't know there were nasod this cute~" A warm smile spread across her face and Eve blinked uncomfortably. "I'm Rena."

Eve nodded awkwardly, unsure of how to respond to such an affectionate greeting from a stranger. Just a few feet away, the atmosphere was far colder.

"That's a nasod?" Raven kept his blade steady and held his ground as he glared at Eve, drawing out the latent tension in the air as he stood ready to strike. "What makes you think she's not an enemy?"

Elsword and Aisha hesitated. In truth, there was no proof they could offer him, nothing that would convince him of Eve's trustworthiness other than their intuition and Eve's anxiety.

Rena reached to her side and grabbed the flat of Raven's blade. "Pointing your sword at her isn't going to help either way."

"It is alright." Eve lowered her hands and studied Raven's left arm. "I understand your suspicions. It seems that you have had encounters with the nasod in the past."

Raven cast is eyes aside and returned his weapon to its sheath, but the chill in the air remained as he scowled bitterly at the machine grafted onto his body.

"Hey, can we do this later?" Elsword grumbled just a bit louder than his stomach and his brow furrowed. "We need to get out of here."

"Wait." Eve circled around and stopped in front of Raven, looking up at him calmly. "I want to examine that arm."

Raven gazed down at her skeptically. "Why?"

"If it is causing you pain, I may be able to stop it..." Eve's voice trailed off abruptly, a whirl of doubts spinning through her mind. "And also... I did not program the Core to perform experiments on humans. I did not program the Core to produce nasod for battle. I need to know why that arm exists and who made it." In her unyielding eyes there was a spark of frailty, a streak of worry that infected her resolute words. Raven stood firm for a moment, refusal lingering on the edge of his lips. When he glanced to his right, however, the look of calm assurance on Rena's face cut through his caution and wore down his last stubborn defense. Even Elsword and Aisha were staring at him with a mix of impatience and goading, wondering just why he was being so unreasonable when offered a solution to his suffering. Discarding his apprehension, Raven nodded sternly.

"Alright. What do you need to do?"

"We will need to access its processor and memory." Eve blinked once and turned, pointing down a narrow side passage. "There is a supply room up ahead where we will find the necessary supplies."

Without hesitation, she walked off into the dark, the path ahead lighting up beneath her feet. Everyone else followed quickly though at nowhere near as steady a pace. With clouds of filth blocking their path, Aisha and Rena soon found themselves several yards behind Eve and making little headway. After a fit of light coughing, Aisha waved her hands briskly in an attempt to clear the air.

"Rena, can't you just blow all of this away or something?" Pinching her nose tight, she fought another sneeze as she guided her feet over a pile of rusted scrap metal.

"There's too much dirt in walls and the ceiling... It would only make it worse." Rena lean over on the wall and raised her injured leg, pulling her boot off and adjusting her bandages.

"Is it doing any better?" Aisha looked to her uneasily, her voice higher and softer than usual. Smiling carelessly, Rena pushed herself from the wall and draped herself over Aisha.

"Yup, a little bit, but I still can't put any weight on it. Can I lean on you for a little bit?" She leaned her head onto Aisha's shoulder.

"Of course!" Aisha nodded earnestly, both shocked and flattered as she slid her arm around Rena's back. Just as they began to set off, Aisha heard an irksome grunt behind her and she realized that Elsword and Raven had fallen behind. Looking back over her shoulder, she found Elsword tangled up in a mess of dangling cord, his legs and his sword hopelessly bound in a nest of lithe wires.

"What are you doing back there? Hurry up!"

Elsword glowered at her and struggled fiercely, wrapping himself ever more snugly as he tried to break through his bindings with brute force. "Just give me a second, alright?" He yanked and pulled against the wires again and slipped, falling against the wall and shaking a cloud of dirt down onto his head. Next to him, Raven frowned awkwardly as he assessed Elsword's condition. He turned back toward Aisha and Rena promptly.

"Go on ahead. This could take a while."

"Are you sure?" Aisha asked pensively, her eyes drifting toward Raven's left arm.

"Yeah, we should go see if Eve needs any help." Rena smiled warmly and nudged Aisha onward, setting the two of them in motion down the hall along the glowing path that Eve had left for them. After another minute, they had gone far enough away that Elsword and Raven's voices melted into the subtle hum of electricity in the walls, though Eve was still nowhere in sight. As soon as they were audibly alone, Aisha paused.

"Is it really okay to leave Elsword like that?"

Rena smiled lightly. "Tied up like that? I think it'd make him easier to carry around, actually."

Aisha gave a short, awkward laugh, "No, I meant, with Raven."

"Oh, don't worry." Rena grinned slyly. "I don't think Raven's into younger men, so you don't have any competition there."

"That's not-!" Blushing, Aisha pouted and huffed, furrowing her brow as they carried on down the corridor. Humming softly, Rena leaned over and lowered her voice a bit.

"What do you really think of him though? You don't still hate him, do you?"

"Well, no, but..." Aisha kept her eyes forward, holding her words uneasily in her throat. "He has some moments when he's kind of cool, and he's not a bad person..." Her voice quickly rose and gained a sharp edge, "But then he always acts so rude and stupid and he still doesn't listen to anybody!"

Gazing at her fondly, Rena giggled. "That's true, but he's still in the middle of growing up. In a few years, he might be completely dashing."

Aisha scoffed and scowled. "Never. He will never, never be a proper gentleman."

"I wonder..." Rena stared off into the distance with a bright, cheery gleam over her face. Aisha's flustered frustration lasted only a moment, however, and soon she had her mind set back onto another matter.

"Do you really think Raven won't try to fight with us anymore?"

A grey fog of rust and dirt poured from the wall and covered their feet as the static buzz of frayed wires swirled around them. Closing her eyes for a moment, Rena's smile faded and her voice grew solemn. "I don't think so. Not now that he's off his ship and away from his soldiers. He seems like a good man, and someone who honestly doesn't like fighting at all... but to be honest, I think that if he was still on that ship, he might go back into battle right away. The sort of revenge that he's been carrying out, it's more addiction than retaliation. Killing the people he sees as his enemies is all that's been keeping him going for a long time, but it's also been keeping him stuck in the past. I don't know if he'll let that go, but for now, I think he'll be just fine, especially if Eve can keep that machine on his arm from messing with his head."

Soaking in Rena's words, Aisha breathed out slowly and shifted her arm across Rena's back. "I can't say I understand it all completely, but if you think he's alright, I think that's good enough."

"Thanks." Rena leaned over and rested her head on top of Aisha's. "By the way, weren't there some boys behind us a while ago?"

* * *

A couple dozen yards back, Raven carefully pulled and twisted a handful of wires as Elsword finally pulled his foot from their grasp, free after a long struggle against their stranglehold. Grimacing, her glared up at Raven and his eyes narrowed.

"We could've just cut through them."

"They're power cables. If we cut the wrong one, the lights could go out." Raven spoke plainly and without affect, though in truth the path lite below their feet was all that kept them from wandering aimlessly through a labyrinth of dust and debris. Though Elsword knew this and didn't argue with Raven while he was helping him get free, he still scowled and crossed his arms stubbornly. Without a word, they set off down the hall in pursuit of Aisha and Rena. After a few minutes in an awkward, tense silence, Raven glanced over at Elsword sharply.

"Is something wrong?"

Elsword scoffed. "Nothing's wrong. Just don't expect me to act friendly with you after you tried to kill us."

Raven turned back toward the dull lights darting off into the distance, his eyes dim and weary. "That's fine then. You've got every right to be suspicious of me, after what I've done."

Still shooting Raven a critical stare, Elsword lowered his arms and relaxed his shoulders a bit. "...What're you gonna do when we get out of here then?"

Raven's mouth turned down as guilt piled onto his shoulders. "The El that was on my ship... it belonged to your village, didn't it? I'm going to help you all get it back."

"And what if you go crazy cause of your arm again?"

"I'd stop myself before that happened." Raven locked eyes with Elsword, his voice solemn and stern as stood tall against the flickering shadows around them.

"..." Elsword glared harshly, questioning Raven's sincerity with a coarse scowl. After a moment, however, his scowl faded. "You won't have to go that far. I'll take care of you myself if that happens."

Cracking the slightest of smiles, Raven gave a short, faint laugh and Elsword's grimace reappeared.

"What, you don't think I could take you?" He backed away and reached for his sword but Raven merely lowered his face and shook his head.

"No, that's not it. I laugh because you're probably right. I've just never met a kid your age that could swing so hard. I can still feel the bruises on my back from where you hit me."

Elsword grinned wryly. "You should've given up earlier then."

Raven chuckled again, just a bit stronger than before. "You're right... I should have."

After a few more minutes of navigation, they arrived at a small store room where Aisha and Rena were busily sifting through the rust-ridden shelves as Eve fiddled with her console in the corner. As soon as they entered, she looked up and pointed toward the large steel table in the center of the room.

"Clear the table. You will need to lie down while I access the arm's visual memory."

Elsword thought to question Eve's orders, unwilling to start running about just because some 'kid' told him to, but since Raven had already started sweeping away piles of ash and debris and there was nothing else for him to do, he got to work begrudgingly. Once the flat, dull steel surface of the table was completely vacant, Eve approached and sprayed its surface with a foul smelling mist from a dust covered canister. Rena reached over and wiped the table down just as Aisha finished stocking a small cart with an assortment of small tools and wheeling it over to Eve. With everyone assembled and the operating room prepared, Eve motioned to Raven and he climbed atop the table, laying on his back and and offering his left arm to Eve as though it were a rotten log being rolled into a bonfire. Grabbing a pair of pliers and a small metal probe, Eve began peeling back the outer shell of Raven's nasod arm and uncovering its innards.

For a time, nothing happened. Eve continued stripping away layers of covering and casing, attaching electrodes and wires to the arm as it lay motionless atop the table. A small spark leapt into the air as she wound a final wire into place and a faint crackling spilled out of Eve's console. After a few keystrokes, a large screen appeared in the air around them, displaying what seemed to be a bright, spacious workshop table covered with small electrical components and bright new tools. As the perspective of the screen shifted and curled inward, they could see the unfinished upper half of Raven's nasod arm, its wires and circuits exposed and its shoulder still unattached to any human body.

"What... what is that?" Aisha stared curiously at the translucent screen as the view continued to shift erratically.

"The sphere in the palm of this arm is actually a camera." Eve looked down toward Raven's left hand and the bright, smooth orb fixed in its center. "It seems to have started recording its surroundings once it was activated and has been feeding these images back to somewhere within the core."

"Wait, so it's... an eye?" Elsword grimaced, more than a little disgusted.

Before Eve could clarify, the screen flashed rapidly as the arm entered a new chamber. Rolling on a cart of some sort, it passed by a row of large metal gurneys, each hosting a pale, blood-soaked corpse covered in a clear plastic shroud. At the end of the hallway, the arm turned into a small room where another body waited upon an operating table. Unconscious and badly wounded, Raven lay at rest and breathing heavily as the arm slowly approached his left side. As a pair of nasod entered the room, Raven stirred and groaned in his sleep, his eyes fluttering as he gradually awakened.

One of the nasod at Raven's side looked up through the ceiling and called out monotonously, "It is almost awake. Please recommend further action."

A booming thunderclap rang out as a deep, imposing voice delivered its answer. "Sedate it at once and begin the operation. It will resist, so keep it strapped down while you perform the amputation."

"Understood." The nasod turned to a cabinet on the wall and retrieved a large syringe, plunging it into Raven's neck and emptying its contents into his veins. The pain and shock of the injection jarred him from his sleep and he rose wearily, just in time to see a large hand saw touch the surface of his left shoulder.

The screen vanished just as an agonizing scream filled the room and everyone stared in horror. Eve stood at her console, her eyes lost as she stared down at the open circuits and wires in front of her.

"So that's when it happened." Raven's voice was calm and blunt, unmoved by the image of his arm being rent from his body. At his side, Eve was not so serene.

"I... am sorry that this happened to you." She cast her eyes aside and lowered her face, crossing her arms tightly across her chest as her voice quivered across her ears. "I did not program the Core to make nasod like that... I do not know... what has happened..."

"H-hey, it's not like you had anything to do with it..." Elsword turned to her and stammered out an awkward consolation, though Eve did not seem reassured in the least.

"It doesn't matter who did it." Raven turned to Eve and looked straight into her eyes. "I just want to know if you can take away the electric shocks and get it out of my head."

In the face of Raven's calm determination, Eve quickly regained her composure. "Yes. I will alter its core programming to allow you full control over it." She turned to her console, her face somber as she read through a dozen lines of code. "It may be very painful."

Raven turned back to face the ceiling and closed his eyes. "That's fine. Pain is temporary."

Eve nodded and turned to Elsword and Aisha. "I will need you to hold him down."

"Hah..." Raven let out a heavy sigh as he sat up on the steel operating table. Holding his left arm out, he flexed each finger of his claw in turn, twisting his wrist freely and bending his elbow back and forth. Beside him, Eve closed her console and returned her tools to the cart at her side.

"I have removed all autonomous functions of the arm and stripped away its internal programming. You should be able to control all of its movements and actions now, including the weaponry built into its core."

Sweat dripped from Raven's chin as he looked over the machine that once held him hostage in his own body, now moving at his behest. Still gathering his breath and steadying himself, he turned reluctantly toward Eve and nodded. "...Thank you."

Eve nodded in return, silent as she packed her tools into a small metal case. At the edge of the room, Aisha and Elsword sat back against the wall, exhausted from a marathon of spell casting and still unable to tend to their grumbling stomachs. At Raven's side, Rena looked down with a reassuring smile.

"Good~ Now you don't have to go around talking to yourself and trying to cut your arm off."

Raven glanced aside, a bit embarrassed by the memory of his previous desperation. "It- Yes."

Rena laughed and coughed lightly. "Are you feeling well enough to get moving?"

Closing his left arm into a tight fist, Raven pushed himself off of the table and up to his feet, his eyes keen and determined as he stared off into the darkness beyond the door.

"Yeah. Let's go."


	23. All That Remains

All That Remains

* * *

A haze of frosted sunlight leaked through the ceiling, piercing the dust-laden air with a shower of golden spindles. A thin layer of dry soil covered the steel floors and blanketed the twisting mess of wires, the product of several centuries spent gathering rust and rainfall while wearing away in the weather. Slowly stepping beneath a bright bolt of sun, Elsword brought up the rear along with Rena who was leaning lightly against his shoulder, pulling herself along on her good leg while everyone else waited just ahead. As they neared the broad double doors that lay at the end of the hall, an unexpected patch of green cropped up underfoot. Along the ground, slender lines of grass sprouted up from the shallow soil, each thin row growing along the path of a narrow sunbeam as it traveled with the passing hours. In this world of wires and riveted steel, even the grass grew in a neat, precise formation years after the life of last gardener flickered and faded away.

As they neared the end of the hallway, Eve approached the double doors and opened her console, scattering her fingers across its keys. The doors began to rattle, creaking and chirping harshly as they slowly swung open. After just a few inches, the heavy steel ground to a halt with a sharp screech, its corners caught on a mangled heap of rust and debris.

"Stand back." Returning his sword to its sheath, Raven walked up to the narrow beam of light that escaped the gap in the doors and slid his fingers and claws deep inside. With a single sharp pull, the doors parted cleanly and a curtain of sunlight flooded the hall. As Elsword stepped out into the open, he found himself surrounded by a sea of surreal green. A thick carpet of moss covered every visible surface; the ground, the walls, the ornate stone benches, even the solitary silhouette of a lifeless nasod in the shadow a crumbling arch. Walking lightly across the lush undergrowth, Elsword found his eyes drawn to every corner of the room, studying each mossy outline in an effort to determine what lay beneath the verdant quilt.

"Where is this place?"

"This was one of the hanging gardens of the imperial palace..." Eve gazed solemnly at the overgrown conservatory, her voice low and sullen as though she was lost in her memories. "...We will reach the exit soon. Please follow me."

Out of the garden and into a grand antechamber, Eve led the way as they descended gradually through the sloping halls of the imperial palace of the nasod. Though he had never seen a palace firsthand, and had never heard anything of the nasod having them, Elsword felt a faint, strangely nostalgic heartache as he walked through the ruins of what must have been a truly impressive stronghold. Paint and lacquer were chipped and worn from every surface and cracks spread through the tiled floor like bolts of lightning frozen in time and laid gently on their side. The air itself commanded a sort of reverent silence as though the shattered glass and collapsing columns should be the site of mourning, the tombstone of a civilization that simply stopped breathing hundreds of years ago.

"It's really... sad, somehow..." Aisha passed by a torn, rotting tapestry, trying to imagine what art the artificial hand of a nasod would have made. Everyone, even Raven, found themselves entranced by the odd, tragic beauty of the palace of the nasod with its crumbling splendors and its luster long since gone. Everyone, except for Eve. While those of flesh and blood stepped cautiously through the decrepit ruins, Eve stood silently before a smooth, unadorned doorway. Pushing off of Elsword's shoulder, Rena turned around and smiled faintly at Eve.

"It must be hard to see your home like this... do you want to stop for a little bit?"

Eve shook her head slowly, keeping her eyes down. "No. It is not necessary. Nasod do not feel sadness... However, it is, perhaps... regrettable that I was not able to save this place..." She maintained her composure and continued staring down the door, although by any human definition, the look on her face was clearly that of someone stricken with grief. Reaching her hand out slowly, she touched the surface of the door and it slid open smoothly.

"What's in there?" A light breeze carried Rena's voice gently throughout the hall as Eve stood on the threshold of the ancient past.

"This... was my room." Eve placed her hand on the door frame, her breath slightly heavier than before. Curious, Elsword walked up behind her and tried to peek in over her shoulder and was immediately forced back by a fierce glare.

"This is a private room. I will not tolerate intrusions." Eve's eyes were stern and harsh, but her voice wavered just a bit as she gave her warning.

Across the hall, Aisha grimaced and glared at Elsword. "I told you, you can't just barge into a lady's room without permission."

Nearby, Rena smiled awkwardly. "...especially when she hasn't cleaned it for a few hundred years..." She turned back to Eve and her smile brightened. "Do you need a few minutes?"

Eve nodded, her voice tinged with a vague longing as she spoke. "...There may be something useful inside." While everyone else waited in the hall, Eve stepped back into her bedroom for the first time in ages. Her extravagant bed, which she complained was far too soft and fluffy to sleep in, had rotted away completely, leaving only a ragged wrought iron frame in its place. Her tools and workbench were similarly distressed, each a mere remnant scrap of their original form, some partial testament that weakly proclaimed their proper shape. In fact, the entirety of her belongings lay in some state of disarray or decay, either broken beyond repair or withered away into ash and sand. In all likelihood, there was nothing that could have survived the merciless onslaught of time, but Eve felt the urge to check regardless. Lifting the lid of a small, copper box beneath her nightstand, she withdrew a pair of tiny drones, their round, smooth bodies intact and relatively unscathed by the years. Despite their remarkable preservation, the small creatures of ivory and jet remained motionless in Eve's arms.

"Moby... Remy..." She held them to her chest and then opened her tool case, placing them delicately atop her supplies before standing and taking a final glance at the skeleton of her childhood home. As she stared out through the empty window frame above her bed, a quick flash of movement caught her eye. Immediately, Eve opened her console and brought up a map of the palace. Within a second, several bright blue dots lit up across the screen, each of them racing toward the hallway just outside of her room. Her feet skimmed over the ground as she hurried back into the hall and nearly barreled into Rena.

"Something is headed this way. Please stand back." Turning on her heels, Eve opened her console again and slid her hands across a small screen, waking a loud, rumbling motor beneath the floor and drawing a heavy steel partition closed behind them. Glancing quickly from side to side, Raven surveyed their surroundings and then looked back to Eve.

"Enemies?"

"Most likely." Eve checked the map on her console again, its shimmering lines awash with bright blue specks. "They are moving in formation to surround us. I have sealed the hall behind us, but the area ahead is open and unsecured."

Raven nodded and moved to the center of the hallway. "I'll take point. Elsword, Aisha, guard our flank."

"Nobody put you in charge." Elsword scowled as he unlatched is sword, eying Raven suspiciously as he moved into position.

"That is the most easily defensible formation though." Eve moved alongside Rena and dismissed her console save for a tiny translucent screen that floated in the air at her side. "The exit is less than three hundred paces ahead. It will be easier to avoid an ambush outside of the palace."

"Do we have that much time?" Aisha looked back toward Elsword and then to Rena as she held her wand out firmly. Closing her eyes for a moment, Rena drew her bow and pushed herself off of the wall.

"No, we probably won't get outside. It would be best if we could get to a big, open space though. It'll be harder to hold them off, but, well... I still can't move too quickly, and it would be harder to maneuvre in a small space like this." She looked aside to Eve, smiling gently. "I know this isn't something a queen would normally do, but could I borrow your shoulder for a bit?"

Eve turned to answer her and hesitated. "T-that will be fine..." She blushed lightly as Rena slid an arm across her back, leaning lightly against her shoulders as they hurried to join the others.

"Alright, let's move." Elsword shifted to his side and kept a close watch on the windows of every room they passed, his every step slow and deliberate as he matched Rena's labored pace. A tenuous calm settled in across the corridor as the dull echo of Rena's heavy footfall spread through the air, the only audible sound in the gallery of artifacts abandoned to time. Silence, and stillness. It was as though the walls around them were part of an elaborate scene captured in watercolor, frozen forever at the end of an artist's brush. A deafening crash shattered the illusion of calm as a storm of glass spilled into the hall from Eve's room. With her fingers dancing across the tiny console window next to her, Eve pulled Rena along as quickly as she could while Elsword and Aisha held their ground and kept their eyes on far end of the corridor. Within a second, a large partition began to close, blocking them off from the source of the commotion just as a flurry of heavy steel feet pounded into the floor. As Eve finished locking the partition down, the doors shook from the force of a massive impact from the other side.

"We must hurry. The partitions are meant to keep people out, not to lock them in. They are much weaker on the other side."

Raven led the way as the brash clattering of steel rang out through the hall, the end of the corridor both painfully near and impossibly far away. Another loud crash flooded the air with dust as the windows in a nearby room split into a thousand tiny splinters. Eve pressed her hand onto her console once more and activated the nearest partition, drawing it down with a slow, agonizing screech. Just before it closed, however, the partition stopped, hanging open wide enough for a horse to charge through.

"It's stuck!?" Aisha's eyes went wide as she stared through the gap at the bulging, battered doors beyond. Gritting her teeth, Rena dragged herself along, defiant of the pain in her foot and legs. Once they were nearly to the end of the hall, a shrill cry shot through the air as a large, bladed metal hand ripped through the furthest partition wall. In nearly the same instant, a swarm of bladed arms burst into the hallway, peeling away the thick steel doors with unsettling ease. Soon, more than a dozen nasod stood mere moments away, their arms covered in vicious blades, their eyes an array of bright red beacons fixed on their retreating prey. Exchanging a quick glance, Elsword and Aisha nodded to one another and rushed over to Rena and Eve.

"Sorry, but we've got no time!" Aisha grabbed Eve's hand as Elsword lifted Rena up off the ground, running a fast as they could toward the end of the hall.

"Oh, I should've thought of this sooner." Rena beamed happily, draped across Elsword's arms as he struggled to keep his balance and hold her upright. Just inches away, Eve hastily slammed her hand against her console, starting up the motor to the final partition just a few yards ahead. Behind them, the sharp cadence of the nasod hurtled across the weathered floors, crashing through pillars and destroying any tile that might have escaped the ravages of age. Yards. Feet. Once they were within inches of the partition wall, everyone dove forward and Eve pressed her hand into her console, drawing the barrier closed just as the pack of nasod leapt through the air to attack. A deep rumble spread through the air as the nasod plowed into the thick steel barricade and, for the moment, silence followed.

Brushing herself off, Rena sat up and pulled herself up to her feet. Realizing that she had fallen onto something a bit softer than the ground, she looked down and immediately gasped.

"Ah, sorry about that. Are you alright?" She smiled awkwardly down at Elsword who had rolled onto his back as he dove for the ground, sending Rena toppling down on top of him and throwing her shoulder right into his face. Shaking his head out and brushing himself off, Elsword rolled over onto his side and climbed up to his feet.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Everybody else okay?"

Raven nodded quietly, the only one of them to walk through and stay on his feet. On the ground at his side, Eve slowly raised herself to her feet, her clothes still in immaculate condition as she spread her console out before her and checked the enemy's position.

"They pulled back from the hallway. Most likely, they are headed for the palace gates to block our path."

Beside her Aisha endured a fit of coughing, down on her hands and knees and covered in thick black dust. "So we don't-" She coughed again as she raised herself up. "We don't have a choice. We'll have to fight through no matter what."

"Yes, but if we hurry, we can get there ahead of them." Rena hobbled over to Eve and peered over at the map on her console screen. "If we take too long, they'll be able to set up an ambush. We're a lot closer than they are, so we can at least get into a good position before they arrive."

Elsword nodded. "Then we gotta go, now."

With Raven in the lead again and Rena leaning on Eve, they all rushed around the corner and down a short corridor before emerging into the grand, gaping cavern of the palace gates. All around them, balconies and galleries jutted out from the mountain's core, statues of the elegant nasod of Eve's youth stood watch all along the chamber floor, and colossal pillars stretched from the floor all the way up to the ceiling some hundred feet above, all carved from the mountain's own flesh. With the pattering of their feet against the damp stone floors echoing far into the air above, Aisha, Elsword, Rena, Raven, and Eve made their way to the center of the room, a small, circular clearing bounded by twelve massive columns, the only semblance of cover to be had in the grand antechamber. As they each took their positions and steadied their nerves, the soft clink of steel filled the air, growing with every second until it became a roaring symphony of metallic percussion. Eve closed her console and stepped onto the small dais at the center of the circle.

"I am Eve, Queen of the Nasod! I command you all to stand down at once!"

As the authority of her voice filled the air, a crowd of nasod slowly stepped out into the light at the edge of the room. Each one was identical, coated in a crisp, silvery shell and bearing a pair of fierce blades on each of its arms. At the palace gates, one of the many nasod barring their path stepped forward and spoke in a flat, rasping voice.

"DENIED."

An electric tension shot through the air as dozens of nasod charged forward, racing toward their queen and her entourage. As one group leapt down from the mezzanine, Elsword swung his sword down overhead and slammed it into the ground, splitting the rock and summoning a massive geyser of flame high into the air. All but one of the advancing nasod fell right into the path of the fire, crackling and groaning as they instantly overheated. The single machine that escaped lunged toward Elsword and he ducked low, punching it in the gut with a fist full of fire that sent it tumbling backward and into the blistering geyser beyond. Once the flames died down, another wave dashed out of the shadows, their blades whistling as they cut through the wind. Gritting his teeth, Elsword stoled a glance over his shoulder and steadied his hands.

"Aisha!" As he called out to her, he swept his sword up to the sky, catching a nasod under the chin and hurling it through the air where Aisha blasted it with a burst of dark energy, sending it flying off into the distance. Two. Three. Four. Elsword kept flinging nasod over his shoulder until he finally ran out of targets and moved to guard the rear.

Just as Aisha finished off the last of Elsword's nasod, a pair leapt down from the balconies and dove straight at her, their blades glistening in the fading light of the setting sun. Jumping back quickly, she left a whirling mass of dark magic and fire in her wake that ripped her attackers apart as they hurtled toward the ground. Within seconds, another dozen nasod were closing in on her and she gripped her wand tightly in both hands as a broad grin spread across her face. In an instant, she teleported to each of the approaching nasod, tapping them once in the back with the tip of her finger before returning to center of the room. When all of the nasod turned and swung their arms out behind them, Aisha threw a bright bolt of lightning out toward them, arcing between each of the nasod she had touched and dropping them to the ground.

On the front lines, Raven narrowly dodged the edge of a jagged blade, stepping slightly to his right and drawing his blade swiftly, severing his attacker's arm and head in a single strike. As another opponent leapt toward him, he lunged forward with his left arm and caught the nasod's face in his claw, crushing it into a mess of mangled circuits and frayed wiring. Three more nasod rushed at him from his back, each ready to land a clean blow until a flurry of arrows cut through their chests and legs, dropping them to the ground. Raven looked back briefly, nodding to Rena as she smiled back and waved at him before they both turned back to the threat ahead. With another pack already upon them, Raven blocked quickly with his left arm and spun around his attacker, slicing its back open with a single, precise cut and then spinning his blade in his hand to thrust back into the chest of a nasod behind him. When the next nasod swung at him, he grabbed its bladed arm with his claw and threw it high into the air overhead where Rena riddled it with a volley of arrows. With every move and motion, he cut down another enemy and left himself completely exposed in the process and every time, a keen arrow cut through the air and covered the openings in his defense.

The stream of machines seemed endless and more than three dozen broken nasod had already piled up around the center of the cavern. As the fighting wore on into its third minute, the light injuries of the early battle began to multiply, small scrapes becoming a series of shallow cuts and faint bruises becoming aching sores. In the midst of the unrestrained ferocity all around, Eve stood lost in the chaos of this new, unfamiliar era. Every 'nasod' that she had seen so far was exactly the same: A weapon, a machine, a pale imitation of her people made only as a soulless tool. Certainly, the was not what she programmed the core to do. All the centuries that had passed since she entered her deep slumber should have seen the rebirth of the Nasod, not...this. Staring out at the hoard of mindless weapons, she clenched her fists and closed her eyes. As another dozen of the imitation nasod fell around her, she noticed one solitary attacker creeping in the shadows near Aisha. Without a moment's hesitation, Eve held out her hand and gathered a mass of electricity in her palm and hurled it through the air, smashing into the nasod stalking Aisha and sending a lethal shock through its body. Almost as stunned by Eve's sudden attack, Aisha turned back to her and blinked.

"Thanks." She managed to mutter a fraction of her gratitude before another pair of nasod closed in on her from the side, prompting Aisha to roll forward past them and leave them rushing into a swirling orb of dark energy. Soon, the fighting died down and everyone moved in close together, taking stock of their wounds and surveying the battlefield. In total, some seventy nasod lay crippled or broken on the ground or strewn across the balconies above, each one cut, smashed, shocked, burnt, pierced, or otherwise maimed beyond all help. In exchange, Elsword suffered a series of cuts to his side and back, Aisha a smattering of scrapes and bruises on her hands and elbows, and Raven found himself bleeding lightly from his arms and chest, the result of dodging a few blows at the very last instant. Finally releasing the tension in her bow and her shoulders, Rena sighed and looked around at everyone.

"Is everybody okay?"

"Mostly, I think..." Aisha rubbed her arms and swept the soot from her leggings. "Elsword?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm not really bleeding too much anymore."

"Great~" Rena smiled warmly and clapped her hands together. "Good job everyone!"

As Raven wrapped his biggest wounds in a scrap of cloth, he glanced over his comrades and found himself a bit surprised. "You're all in worse shape than some of my men were after a three hour skirmish. You act like this is nothing."

"It's not nothing. It's just not that bad, compared to a lot of other stuff we've already gone through." Elsword shook his head out and scraped a stubborn clump of dirt from the side of his leg. Strapping her wand back onto her belt, Aisha wiped the sweat from her face with a handkerchief and tapped her shoes against the ground.

"Yeah, nothing seems as bad after that time at Wally's castle. We were really torn up after that."

"Nnnn..." Rena stretched her arms out over her head and her shoulder popped quietly. "Yes, although the airship was really rough too. I don't think I've ever been more exhausted than after that... Well, maybe right now."

Ever so slightly, Raven smiled. "Heh... I can't believe I thought I ever stood a chance against you all."

Rena returned his smile fondly. "Don't say that~ it's not like we're-"

"Wait!" Eve poured over her console as a single, flashing blue dot lit up right on top of them. "There is still an enemy nearby."

"What?" Elsword rushed over and peered at the map. "Where at?"

"It looks like it's right on top of us..." Aisha studied Eve's console quizzically. "That can't be right, can it?"

By the time they all realized, it was nearly too late. A single nasod had climbed to the very top of the columns above them and was now plummeting through the air toward them, its blades spread wide and ready to strike. Knocking Rena and Eve to the ground with a wide sweep of his right hand, Raven thrust his claw into the air and discharged a massive blast of flame and heat at the very last second, shattering the nasod into a hail of fragments that flew out in every direction. The very next thing he heard was Aisha's voice.

"Ah! Ow! That- Ow!" She rose to her feet slowly, holding her hands out before her. Elsword joined her soon and Raven saw that they were in a similar condition, their hands burnt and fresh cuts from the flying shrapnel littering their arms and legs. One small shard of metal lodged itself into Elsword's calf and he yanked it out sharply.

"Tch... damn..."

"Here, we need to cauterize it or it might get infected." Aisha reached over, flame gathering in her hand. Elsword pulled back at first, taking a moment to steel himself and clench his fists before nodding and allowing Aisha to reach forward and seal the cut with a quick flash of fire. As Raven watched them casually tend to their wounds, wounds that he had given them just now, a pang of guilt rose in his chest.

"...I'm sorry. I didn't think it would-"

"Please be more careful with your nasod arm." Eve stood before him, her tone admonishing. "Using it like that will injure everyone nearby."

"Eve, it's alright..." Rena pushed off of the ground and brushed off her shoulders. "It's not like he had much of a choice, considering the circumstances."

"...We should at least get out of here before anymore of those things come." Raven glared hard at no one and nothing in particular, scowling at the thoughts that raced through his mind as he approached Rena's side. "I can carry you the rest of the way, if you want."

"Oh, yes please." Rena grinned happily and held her arms out, waiting for Raven to kneel down before falling forward onto his back and locking one arm around his neck and pointing off into the distance with the other. "Raven, Forward!"

Raven hesitated for a moment, taken aback by Rena's casual cheer. Still struggling with a mangled mess of thoughts that clashed inside his head, he hurried out of the imperial palace with Eve, Aisha, and Elsword close behind him. As they trudged finally fled the mountain and made their way into the plains, Raven began to consider his recent actions carefully. Was it alright to continue using the dangerous power locked away in his left arm? More importantly, he started to wonder whether or not he was actually on the same level as the people around him.

Whenever he saw Elsword and Aisha in a fight, they were so direct and determined, as though they knew exactly what they were fighting for. He couldn't quite put it into words, but he felt that it was like they had something they were willing to give their lives for, but at the same time, death was never an option they would consider. Then there was Rena, a woman who seemed just like Seris at first but turned out to be completely different. Rather than quiet and severe as his fiancée had been, Rena was bright and cheerful despite the years she had spent in battle. She never hesitated to smile even though she must have seen just as much pain over the course of her life as he had. In a way, he felt a bit bitter at first; her smiles made him feel like a fool for wallowing in his grief for so long and for clinging to his self-serving vengeance for so many years. Even Eve, whom he could not entirely trust, had kept her composure despite finding out that centuries of her work had all ended in failure. As they walked through the hollow shell of the ancient nasod cities and across the lush windswept plains of the islands edge, Raven felt a sudden lightness in his feet, as though something old inside of him had slipped away into the sea.

* * *

"Hey, wait..." Elsword rubbed his eyes, straining them to catch a glimpse of something in the distance. "I think I see food."

"What!? Where?" Aisha grabbed his shoulder and stared out across the plains, searching for any sign of movement other the swaying grass. It had already been two hours since their battle with the nasod and they had spent the entire time searching for anything that even remotely resembled food or water. By now, Aisha was beginning to wonder if they weren't hallucinating.

"There! There it is!" Elsword pointed out to a small ball of fluff scurrying about in the distance.

"Ah!" Rena's eyes went wide and her face lit up. "No! That's not food!" She waved happily at the small creature at the edge of the plains. "It's a Ponggo!"


	24. A Warm Welcome

A Warm Welcome

* * *

"Ah!" Rena's eyes went wide and her face lit up. "No! That's not food! It's a Ponggo!"

All at once, everyone else turned to her with a blend of confusion and concern on their faces.

"...What...?" Elsword blinked and his eyes narrowed as Rena continued to hum happily. Next to him, Aisha took a step forward and reached out to Rena pensively.

"Um, Rena... are you feeling okay?"

"Of course. Now that we found the Ponggos, they'll have food and beds and we can wash our clothes and relax" She pointed off toward the small furry mammal at the edge of the plains. "Onward!"

Raven glanced aside awkwardly, wondering whether or not he should take her seriously. Eve was likewise confounded.

"What are these 'Ponggos'?"

"Well, they're kind of like tiny fluffy bears, but not exactly..." Rena tilted her head as though she were shaking out loose memories. "They're really nice and they've got really good food, although I never knew they lived this far south, or on a floating island either... Anyway, let's go."

Elsword glared skeptically. "Are you serious?"

"Huh?" Rena blinked.

"It... does sound kind of strange... tiny bear people who live underground on a floating island..." Aisha averted her eyes, trying to conceal her conspicuous doubt.

"Why would that be strange?" Rena began to pout, sensing that she was the only one around who was willing to accept the existence of Ponggos. "There are Elves and Nasod and Humans and lots of other types of people in the world, so why are Ponggos strange?"

Eve scanned the horizon, failing to detect any sign of a small, fluffy, bear-like creature. "It is not that I do not believe they exist, but there have never been any animal species living on Altera. Their presence here would be unprecedented, and ridiculous."

Rena turned her eyes forward and nodded with a fierce determination. "Alright then, I'll prove it. Raven, let's go!"

Keeping his eyes down and his mouth shut, Raven marched forward with Rena on his back, in search of the elusive Ponggo. With everyone else following several yards behind, they waded through the tall, shimmering grass, heading toward the setting sun as Rena searched for a scrap of indisputable evidence to prove the existence of Ponggos. Once they were within sight of the island's edge, she found it rather unexpectedly. As Raven surveyed the horizon, his foot slipped through the ground and into a massive pit. He toppled over onto his side, barely balancing himself just enough to land back on the surface rather than in the bottom of whatever chasm lay below. By the time he turned to Rena to check on her, she was already up on her knees and peering down into the ground.

"Ah~ This is it. Hellooooooo!?" She began shouting into the underground. "Hello!? Is there anybody down there?"

Raven glared down into the darkness and moved his hand to the hilt of his blade. "Are you sure we want an answer from a place like this?"

"Don't worry." Rena smiled at him. "I wouldn't be hanging over the edge of a giant hole in the ground if I thought it might actually be dangerous."

By now, Aisha, Elsword, and Eve had arrived behind them and were gathered around Rena, wondering just what to make of her sudden fit of effervescence. As they all peered down into the pitch black of the underground, the echoes from Rena's voice were joined by a strange, high squeak.

"Hello!?" Rena called out cheerfully into the depths and awaited an answer.

"What do you want!?" A shrill, squealing voice erupted from the ground. "Stop playing around and come in already! For the love of all that's-"

Just a yard below them, a small, fluffy, fur covered creature crawled out into the sunlight and stared up at Rena, its eyes wide as a full moon. Smiling broadly, Rena waved happily. "Hi there. We're lost and really tired, do you mind if we come into your village?"

The small creature, which resembled nothing more a very fluffy bear-like badger-mole, instantly fell backward to the ground and scurried off down a broad tunnel. As it retreated, a frantic shout of "Chief! Chief!" bounced through the dark and escaped out into the air. While everyone around stared down into the ground aghast, Rena sat upright and nodded.

"See. Ponggos."

Within a few minutes, a small herd of Ponggos gathered at the mouth of the tunnel, led by a calm elder smoking a small pipe. As he emerged into the fading sunlight, he reached out to stroke his chin and hummed thoughtfully.

"Well, well... We've not had humans or elves on the island for nearly a century. What brings you all here?"

Rena leaned forward slightly and shifted to a more serious tone. "We were on a ship that crashed into the mountainside, and we're stranded here for the time being. It's been a couple days since we've had a decent amount of food or water, so if you're willing to sell us any, we'd be grateful."

"Hm..." The chief puffed on his pipe and stared off into the sky for a moment. "I thought we might see some of your kind sooner or later when I heard that the flying ship had crashed, though I didn't expect there to be so many of you. The Nasod on this island have been ruthlessly cutting down anyone who ventures onto the surface, so you must be quite the warriors."

Rena smiled faintly. "We've managed to take care of ourselves so far."

The old chief grinned. "I can see that. I am Adel, Chief of the Ponggos here on Altera. If you would come and tell me your story, I would gladly welcome you all into our village."

"Thank you!" Rena beamed brightly as she sat back on her hands and swung her feet down to hang over the edge of the tunnel. "Oh, before we come in though, I need to know if it's really alright. We've got a Nasod with us, she's different than all the other ones on the island though. Eve?"

Uneasily, Eve stepped forward and stood before the Ponggos, watching as the bulk of the crowd behind Adel shrank and retreated into the underground.

"Oh... now this _is_ unexpected." Adel stepped forward and climbed out of the tunnel, circling around to stand face to face with Eve. "She is different indeed. If you had not said she was a nasod, I might not have noticed. Tell me, where are your weapons and armor?"

Eve stared down at him plainly. "I am not a combat model." She paused, recalling what Adel had said just moments ago. "I must apologize for the loss of your people at the hands of nasod. This should never have happened, and I am the one responsible for it..."

Adel closed his eyes slowly and stood in silent thought. As a chill gust whipped across his face and ruffled his fur, he looked up at Eve and smiled. "Well, that is most certainly a story I'd like to hear. I'd be glad if you'd come along and tell it."

Eve blinked quickly, her eyes wide as she nodded. "Y-yes. I will do that."

"Excellent." Adel clasped his hands together and looked back over to Rena. "I'll see that you all have fresh beds and warm meals for the evening. For now, let's go back to my study and you can explain just how you all found your way to an island floating in the sky over the middle of the ocean."

As the chief chuckled lightly, he hopped back down into the tunnel and motioned for everyone else to follow. Raven followed immediately, helping Rena down and lending her a shoulder as they ducked through the low passages underground. Still trying to move past their initial disbelief, Elsword and Aisha glanced to one another. Aisha opened her mouth to speak, but realized it would do her no good. After all, it's not as though badger-moles were any stranger than anything else they had encountered thus far. Sliding down into the underground, Elsword and Aisha followed along after Adel, leaving Eve to bring up the rear. After a few minutes of navigating a maze of twisting, narrow passageways cut into the stone and earth, the walls around them opened up into a vast, bustling city of Ponggos, carved into the island's underside. Passing over a bustling marketplace filled with the clamor of merchants and shoppers, through a quiet row of homes and a solemn schoolhouse, Adel led his visitors into a large, weathered building wedged into a hollow in the rock. His grizzled old hands reached for a tarnished brass knob and pulled open the front door to his home.

"Now then, I'll put on a pot of cocoa and you can tell me all about what has brought you here, hm?"

* * *

Over an hour passed as Aisha and Elsword exchanged the tale of their travels for hot cocoa and warm bread, bickering about details every step of the way until Rena intervened and carried them through to the present. Once the story of Ruben's El and its theft was finished, Chief Adel turned to Raven, coaxing him, with great difficulty, to recount his involvement in the affair. Having never heard of his history, Elsword and Aisha sat quietly and hung on every word as they began to realize that he was far different than the murderous pirate they initially took him for. When Raven had finished his reflections, the air grew still and the warmth of the cocoa faded.

Waiting in the corner with her eyes fixed and cold, Eve spoke reluctantly at first, of a time when the Nasod were a prosperous people and a time when they had fallen prey to the gnashing teeth of a long, bitter war. Her voice cracked and fell as she recalled the day when Altera's El disappeared, casting the island from the sky and back down to the sea and killing nearly every nasod in the process. The day Eve awoke, the weeks she spent searching for a way to revive her people, the hours spent planning for a single, desperate measure to restore the Nasod race to the world... these things she covered in great detail and left no room for error or misinterpretation. When she reached the moment of her awakening, however, she stopped, and ended her story with a solemn apology to the Chief. Smiling weakly, Adel nodded to her and proclaimed her innocent of any crime against the Ponggos, even if she had somehow led to the creation of the militaristic nasod on Altera.

As their stories drew to a close, Adel bid them all welcome to his village for as long as they wanted to stay. With the daylight gone and their energy spent, everyone hurried off to bed as quickly as they could, though Elsword and Aisha made sure to grab as much food as they could along the way. Perhaps, as Aisha preferred to think, getting a couple days of rest and good food would be the very best thing they could do.

Waking a half hour before the sun, Aisha sprung out of bed and stretched her arms out over her head, sighing pleasantly as she hopped up to her feet. With Rena and Eve still asleep on the other side of the room, Aisha quietly pulled on her clothes and grabbed her grimoire, heading out for an early walk and a few hours of quiet alone with her reading. While the village enjoyed the last moments of its restful sleep, Aisha paced up and down the smooth granite streets, searching for a small alcove or perch far enough away from the marketplace to afford her some level of calm. After another ten minutes of searching, she happened upon a dark, secluded hollow in the cave wall and sat down to finish the final chapters of her grimoire.

As the early morning twilight faded into day and the villagers headed out into the street, Aisha closed the back cover of her heavy tome with a fond reverence. It had taken her far longer than most books, but she had finally finished reading through every page and learning every spell the dark grimoire had to offer.

_I hope it'll be enough... I doubt I'd be able to find any other spell books on this island..._Aisha closed her eyes and let her breath escape her, climbing to her feet and heading off in search of something to sooth the rumbling hunger in the stomach. With her grimoire beneath her arm, she walked along the now bustling streets toward the market square and the scent of freshly baked bread. Though she was drifting off into her thoughts about the taste of warm bread and ripe fruits, she noticed that she was suddenly receiving quite a wide berth. All around her, Ponggos were backing as far away from her as they could, weaving themselves into a thick stream of fur and wary eyes as Aisha passed by. Before she could pause to wonder what they were doing, a soft bump against Aisha's leg brought her to a halt.

"Ah! I-I-I'm so-sorry!" A tiny ponggo child had run into her, stumbling backwards and dropping the tiny rubber ball he was playing with. Looking down, Aisha smiled faintly and leaned forward.

"It's alright. You're not hurt, are you?" She reached down and picked up the child's ball and offered it to him. "Here you go."

The small ponggo stared anxiously, his feet frozen in place as he slowly, cautiously reached out for his toy. The moment his paws closed around the tiny ball, he bolted back to the safety of a side street, leaving Aisha alone once again. A moment later, the shrill cry of the boy's mother filled the air.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! Please forgive him!" She rushed out into the street and bowed before Aisha, her hands trembling as she lowered her head. Confused and confounded, Aisha gave an awkward smile.

"I-It's okay, really..."

"Oh thank you! Thank you!" The boy's mother bowed her head over and over before running back after her child, leaving everyone around them to stare at Aisha with a strange, disconcerting suspicion. Seeing the glistening eyes of a hundred ponggos turned toward her, Aisha tried to wave happily, though that only seemed to send everyone scurrying further away.

_What's going on with these people..._ She pouted and carried on toward the marketplace. _I tried to act just like Rena would and they acted like I was a giant ogre stomping through their village...And what was with those dramatic apologies?_

A few minutes later, Aisha managed to make her way through the marketplace, despite the three yards of personal space each ponggo insisted on giving her, and she darted toward the bakery. Plates and wire racks boasted grand stacks of steaming bread, filled with plums and figs or topped with sliced apples and roasted almonds, each drizzled with a sweet syrup and topped with confectioner's sugar. With great difficulty, Aisha held her mouth closed and walked over to the baker's stall, doing her best to hide her ravenous appetite. With her eyes fixed on her next meal, she pointed

"I would like half a loaf of the sweet one with figs in it, and half a loaf with apples." Aisha pointed to the small, plump loaves resting delicately atop a mound of similar pastries. As she eagerly awaited her breakfast, she noticed the baker's hands trembling. Scooping up two whole loaves into a small basket, he cautiously handed the bread over to Aisha.

"H-Here you are..."

Aisha blinked. "I just wanted half of each, is that-"

"No! No, it's okay, you can take all of them, no charge! Please!" The baker shrank back behind his stall, cowering behind a tower of sticky buns and honey smeared crackers. Slipping from confusion into annoyance, Aisha put on a friendly smile and nodded cheerfully.

"Okay! Thank you!" _What's wrong with everyone!?_ Aisha stormed off with the happiest demeanor she could manage, straight through the market square and onto a small, side street where she could eat her breakfast in peace, or at the very least, away from any small creatures that found her inexplicably terrifying. As she tore into a sweet, tender loaf of fig filled bread, a stout shadow glided across the cave wall and made its way over to her.

"Oh, young lady... Aisha was it?" Chief Adel strolled up to her, one hand behind his back and the other holding his pipe. "How do you do?"

Aisha pouted. "I thought I was doing fine, but apparently I'm an eight foot fire-breathing troll out to eat small children and ruin bakeries."

The Chief chuckled. "Ah, that is troublesome then, since we do not allow trolls in the village." He puffed on his pipe briefly and Aisha smiled awkwardly. "I had heard about your visit to the market though. I must apologize for the villagers and their strange behavior, and I cannot entirely excuse it, but many people here seem to be very frightened of you."

Aisha scowled as she swallowed another chunk of bread, its delicious texture and sweetness doing little to assuage her frustration. "Why though? I would get it if they were afraid of Eve because she's a nasod, but they seemed fine around her last night... or even Raven, because he's always so severe and serious, but why would they be afraid of me?"

Adel tapped his forehead lightly. "That skull in your hair, and the large book you're carrying... you are a dark magician, aren't you? It would be obvious to anyone who took the time to speak with you that you aren't the sort of diabolical villain they've heard about in fairy tales, but it's impossible to get to know anyone if they're too afraid to talk to you. As for her majesty Eve... while my people are familiar with the nasod as ruthless and dangerous, she appears, acts, speaks, and behaves much differently than what they know of the nasod. It's easy for them to separate their image of the murderous, blade-wielding machines of the surface from Eve because she's completely different than their existing notions. On the other hand, all most people have ever heard about dark magicians is that they could easily look like anyone or anything, and that they carry their flesh-bound grimoires and wear the bones of their victims like trophies. In a way, you're the very picture of their childhood storybooks."

Gnawing on a stubborn heel of apple bread, Aisha grimaced and sighed. "That makes sense, and I understand... but I still don't like it. It feels like there's already nothing I can do to change their minds other than to throw away all my grimoires and dress like a flower girl. It'd probably be even worse if they actually saw me using magic."

"Well, you shouldn't take it too hard... It isn't as though the entire village is afraid of you." Adel tapped his pipe out into a small tin before returning it to his vest pocket. "In the morning, the streets and market are normally filled with very young children and the elderly. As the day goes on, you'll probably run into more adults who will react in a much more mature fashion, at least on the surface. Change is difficult for them, and the more radically different it is from their existing notions, the harder it is for them to accept." He grinned slyly. "Although I'd wager there are some older children who are likely to chase after you and beg you to tell them stories of the thousands of people you've enslaved and the kingdoms you've brought to ruin."

Aisha laughed lightly and sighed. "You're right though... I guess I can't expect too much from people who aren't even willing to talk to me. It's really hard to convince them that I'm not evil just because I'm using dark magic."

Adel nodded and raised an index finger. "Ah, now there is a truly difficult topic... to explain that the dark and Evil are not the same thing is something very, very difficult for many people to grasp, even among Ponggos who are born and die in the shadows of the underground. I fear you may have an uphill battle ahead of you, young lady."

Polishing off the last of her breakfast, Aisha nodded. "That's fine. I'd rather fight uphill than down, if it meant I'd have no regrets afterwards." She pushed off of the wall and turned to the Chief. "Thanks, by the way."

"Oh, don't mention it. I dealt with something similar, in my time. Though that was nearly a century ago now." Adel chuckled jovially. "Well, if you will excuse me then." He bowed his head and bid Aisha farewell, sauntering off into the marketplace and disappearing among the crowd. Satisfied, for the moment, Aisha started on her way back to her room, staring at the glow of electric lights shimmering across the smooth stone walls. Without warning, something small sparked within her mind, an obvious, inevitable connection that she only just now realized. Ever since she left Elder, she had never once encountered anyone who treated her differently or avoided her because of the magic she used, and it wasn't until this very moment that she realized why that was. Throughout the entire journey, she had been surrounded by people who never even questioned her once, who never for a moment told her that she had made the wrong decision or that she was something horrible by studying the dark grimoire. Rena, who was openly accepting of her without hesitation, and Elsword, who argued with her constantly but never looked down on her and even asked to learn from her... the sudden weight of their acceptance stood stark against the rejection and awkwardness she had encountered in Elder and now on Altera. As she walked through the busy streets, her face twisted up awkwardly as her mood shifted, a mix of frustration and excitement and exhaustion and warmth that began with a scowl and ended in a soft, subtle smile.


	25. Above the Clouds, Beneath the Sea

Above the Clouds, Beneath the Sea

* * *

The overbearing stroke of a chill winter wind brushed the wisps of early morning fog from the cliffs of Altera, sweeping them off into the sky below as a solitary shadow stretched out over the dew covered plains. With his sword in hand, Raven stared out into the sea of drifting clouds as they swirled over the island's shores and faded into the sunrise. Steady and slow, Raven drew his blade down in a smooth, precise motion, shifting his right hand quickly and swinging the blade out to his side. His breathing was calm and measured as he walked through the motions of every attack, picking up speed with every repetition. For a brief, unreserved moment of peace, his mind was quiet and empty save for the thought of the path his blade followed.

As the first beads of sweat gathered on his brow, however, a spark shot through his memory and dredged up a singularly unpleasant image of a corpse, warm and freshly dead.. In the middle of a strong swing, Raven stopped and shook his head, dismissing his momentary distraction and shifting back into a defensive stance. It was not that the memory of any given death would have shaken him, but as he continued to maim the empty air, a certain person's death flickered in and out of his thoughts. He paused, breathing in deeply and trying to clear his head only to find that the sight of Seris's body tangled in the brush and twisted into a bloody knot of broken limbs would not leave him. Turning sharply, he felt his chest tense up and his heart began to race, pounding violently against his ribs as though it were throwing itself against the ground over and over.

With a familiar rage kindled in his eyes, Raven lashed out recklessly, slashing and clawing at a large boulder just behind him. When he saw the face of his beloved, cold and dead, he struck out with his fist. When he heard the choked whisper of her last words, he thrust his sword into the stone with such force that the tip snapped and flew off into the morning mist. When he could finally think back further and felt the light kiss of her laughter across his neck, he lost all restraint. Thrashing wildly, he threw his nasod arm out and scraped away huge chunks of rock, punching and slashing aimlessly as his memory flooded his eyes. Panting desperately for breath, he drove his left arm into the stone and fired off a relentless burst of flame.

For nearly a minute, a tiny patch of Altera's surface lay covered in a thick haze of smoke and ash. As the bitter edge of a frigid wind cleared the air, Raven stood huffing and panting, his breath billowing into the air like steam as sweat dripped from the edge of his jaw. Staring out at the destruction and waste he had just caused, he lowered his head and dropped to the ground, sitting with his legs crossed and his hands on his knees.

..._That wasn't helpful at all. _Raven finally steadied his breath and turned to face the dull glow of the sun on the horizon. Clenching his fists tightly, he straightened his back and scowled at his own lack of control and discipline. Rage and regret struggled within him and robbed him of the morning's peace and calm. He felt his bitter spite boil over as the memories of his lost comrades, his lost fiancée, and his failure to protect them flashed through his mind and, all at once, he felt the weight of regret over his mindless revenge. More than anything, he felt shame and he cast his gaze to the earth as though he were awaiting a harsh judgment.

_This is pointless. If she had seen me like that... if she knew what I'd done since then, would she really forgive me? _As he thought back to the days when Seris was alive and they were happily ignorant of the schemes set into motion around them, he realized that he lost more than just his compatriots over the past three years. There was something more, something that, in the midst of everything that was taken from him, he could have kept through a thousand deaths and yet, when he saw the field of corpses scattered before him, he threw it away. It wasn't something so simple that he could give it a name, but now that he sat and thought back on everything, he felt that even if Seris were alive, he would no longer have the right to face her. The life he had been leading, the reckless destruction and death he rained down on Velder and its knights simply for wearing their kingdom's crest, was something he couldn't stomach any longer, even if his spite and rage would never completely fade.

_Lashing out like that... No, just using this arm at all..._ He raised his left arm and spread out his claws. _It'll end up hurting everyone around me._ His thoughts turned to Elsword and Aisha and the burns on their hands and arms from Raven's own desperate attempt to protect them. Though he knew it would only be a matter of time until he had a better grasp of his nasod arm and how to use it without causing any collateral damage, but at the same time, he wondered if the risk would be worth it. _More than that... after all the wounds they've already suffered, they don't deserve anymore. Not by my hand. If I keep holding onto the past with such a death grip, I'll just be a danger... no, a hindrance to everyone. _He clenched his jaw and scowled fiercely as he shut his eyes and furrowed his brow. _But there's no way I'll ever forget.._

With his past and present locked in a dead heat, Raven glared harshly at the clear, crimson sky and suddenly he found himself thinking of Rena. His scowl relaxed and he shook his head out, turning his face back to the charred stone in front of him. _That woman...what was it she said? _Drifting back over the last two days, he tried to recall which of Rena's words had made such a significant impact on him and soon found that no single sentence really had; rather, it was everything she had said, and the cheery, gentle way in which she said it that made her every word burn into his memory. With a cold gust stinging at his face, he could almost hear Rena's lyrical voice as he pushed himself up to his feet.

'You've gone through a lot of pain though, and I won't tell you to forget it... but is it really doing you any good to keep torturing yourself over your past?'

"No." Raven answered into the wind as he returned his sword to its sheath and turned his back to the ruined boulder. "It's never going to do me any good. I can't forget, but I can change the way I keep their memory." As he began walking back to the nearest of the Ponggos' tunnels, the spite in his eyes faded and a powerful resolve took its place. _If you're right, then nothing is beyond repair. It might take all of the next fifty years, but I swear, I will correct the chaos I've caused._

* * *

The soft clink of steel falling onto stone rang out through the underground as a heavy screw slipped from Eve's grasp and tumbled across the ground. Glaring sharply at the errant screw, she reached down indignantly and pinched it off the ground before returning to her small, makeshift repair station in front of a large, humming metal box. With the screw placed upon a folded cloth alongside dozens of other tiny components and wires, Eve brought up her console and began to check the condition of each individual part.

_It seems that Moby and Remy will take much longer to repair than I thought. It is fortunate that there is a working fabricator here, but it is in poor condition. And outdated. _

As entered a few commands into her console, the large humming box before her whirled to life, flickering and sparking with startling violence. After a moment, the machine's growling fizzled out into a low purr and finally into silence as a single, shining new bolt rolled out of the small window at its base. When Eve reached down to pick up the part, a soft lump of fur bumped into her leg. Looking down immediately, she saw a tiny, wobbling baby ponggo clinging to her leg.

"Uwaaaa~" The baby ponggo bonked his head against Eve's leg and giggled. Suddenly unsure of what to do with herself, Eve glanced around the area and then down to the child.

"Please remove yourself. I have work to do."

Her plea went ignored. "Uwaa! Uuuuwaa!"

It was readily apparent that this infant had no grasp of any language and so could not be reasoned with. Unsure of how to proceed, Eve attempted to ignore the child and return to her work. That plan did not go well. Eve soon found the tiny ponggo climbing up onto her clothes and she quickly set down her tools and delicately lifted the child from her side and set him down several feet away. As soon as she turned back toward her tools, the child had once again tumbled into the back of her leg. As fortune would have it, a desperate voice rang out through the tunnels at just that moment.

"Aidan! Aidan, where are you!" A panting, elderly Ponggo stumbled out from the shadows and into the soft glow of an electric lantern. Upon seeing the child, he hurried over to Eve and stretched his hands out. "Oh, Aidan! Come over here, you rascal. You know grampa can't keep up with your spry little feet."

"Uwaa!" Aidan detached himself from Eve's leg and waddled over to his grandfather, wobbling clumsily into his arms and cooing happily.

"I'm terribly sorry, I hope he wasn't a nuisance to you." The elderly ponggo turned to Eve meekly as Aidan tugged gently on his beard and gnawed on his collar.

"No. It was no trouble." A blatant lie, albeit unintentional. Eve merely said the only thing she could possibly think of at the moment. Her experience with such emotional creatures, especially children, was sorely lacking. Her face showed the slightest signs of discomfort as she turned back to the scattered shells of Remy and Moby while the ponggo child and his grandfather retreated into the winding tunnels nearby.

"Oh my, you're not hurt are you Aidan? Here, let me see your hands..."

"Uwwwa!" The warm echo of their voices quivered in the cool cavern air, leaving Eve alone with her work once again. With all distractions gone, she focused on her console and soon had the large fabricator buzzing and growling once more, producing all manner of shining new replacement parts for her drones. Within the hour, however, she noticed that a small group of young ponggos had gathered behind her and were watching anxiously as Eve soldered circuits and straightened electrical wires. Though she could only scarcely hear their conversations over the sound of the fabricator's constant grumbling, their incessant chatter became an immediate distraction.

"Hey, look, she's making a fish."

"No stupid, that's not a fish, it's a robot"

"Stupid~ I meant it's a robot fish."

"Why would she make a fish? She's a robot."

"Well, we eat fish, so maybe she needs to make fish to eat them?"

"What? That's stupid."

"No it isn't!"

"Then go ask her!"

"No way!"

"I dare you! I dare you to go up and talk to her"

"Are you crazy? She's a machine, she'll rip your arms out like what happened to Aimee's dad."

"Hey, what're you kids doing? Don't bother people when they're working." Standing at the back of the chamber, Elsword glared at the gaggle of children harshly.

"Shhh!" One of the children turned to him and pressed her finger to her lips. "If you make too much noise the robot will hear you and-"

"That is enough!" Eve rose from her seat and turned back toward the children, her face stern but her eyes cold and wounded. "I will not permit you to disparage the name of the Nasod. We are not machines."

As soon as she turned to address them, the children shrieked and scrambled away, racing frantically to escape Eve's scoldings. As soon as they had gone, Eve stood staring off into the shadows, one arm crossed over her stomach as she gripped her elbow uncomfortably.

"That was regrettable..."

Elsword scoffed and laced his fingers together behind his head. "Don't worry about it. They were just being brats. It's obvious you aren't like those things we fought with before."

Eve shook her head slowly. "No, that is not what is regrettable." She walked back over to the remnants of Moby and Remy, staring aimlessly at their tattered shells. "Even if I am the last nasod, I am still the queen. It is my responsibility to establish diplomatic relations with other species in this era. They were only children, and even newborn Nasod are immature... but I shouted at them regardless, simply because they could not yet distinguish between true Nasod and machines in the shape of Nasod. It was... most likely a poor decision."

Elsword lowered his hands and thought for a moment. "To be honest, I don't really get the difference either... Before you showed up I just thought nasod were all machines and stuff."

"No, true nasod..." Eve raised her head and her gaze drifted off to a scene from her memory, a distant fragment of light from her very first glimpse of the world. "Even though we are not made of flesh and bone, Nasod are living creatures. What you saw before were tools and weapons. They have no more life than the ground at your feet or the sand in the desert."

Elsword's mouth shifted to the side and he scratched the back of his head. "I guess I get it... probably. But, if you're worried about what people think about you, why don't you try to be more friendly?"

Returning her hands to work, Eve considered Elsword's statement and wondered whether or not he was insulting her. After some difficulty, she decided that he was not, though she made note of his apparent lack of delicacy. "Nasod are never friendly or cruel. We do not have the emotions of humans and other species, therefore we have no need to act in such a way. Nasod do not have friends." Another blatant lie, albeit unintentional. As Eve continued piecing together Remy's carapace, Elsword grimaced slightly.

"Well yeah, but aren't we all your friends?" Elsword looked to her quizzically, more confused than anything else. "I mean, maybe not Raven, but the rest of us, probably."

Eve blinked, her hands frozen in place. The shock of his claim sent a burst of questions through her thoughts as she struggled to verify the requirements of 'friendship'. "T-That is impossible. It has been less than three days since we first met. Even among humans, relationships require a prolonged period of time to develop." She blushed lightly and kept her face turned down at the bolts and screws in front of her.

"Yeah, but we fought together, and you helped us get out of that mountain." Elsword suddenly recalled the faint memory of a stinging pain on the side of his face. "Oh, right, you did slap me though, so I guess you don't like me much, but Rena really likes you already, and Aisha probably does too, not that I can ever tell what she's thinking..." Elsword scowled as his thoughts turned to Aisha and their most recent altercations. Smoothing out his glower, he turned and headed toward the nearest tunnel, calling back to Eve over his shoulder. "Anyway, don't say stuff like 'I don't have any friends' or anything like that. It sounds depressing. I'm gonna go grab lunch, I'll see you later."

Still blushing and trapped in her thoughts, Eve set down her tools and pressed her hands against her knees as she stared intently at the empty air. _Nasod do not have friends. He must be mistaken. Perhaps it is normal for humans to assume attachment to one another after having a shared experience? It is not possible for nasod to have 'friends'... but... perhaps..._ Eve began to breath a bit more heavily and her hands tensed up. _Perhaps it would be beneficial to foster a sense of social solidarity with others? For the sake of establishing diplomatic relations for the future of the Nasod._ She nodded firmly to herself, picking up her soldering iron and opening her console once again. With her hands hovering over Moby's circuits, she paused one last time. _Human relationships... I still do not entirely understand them._

* * *

As the morning passed on into the afternoon and the village began to bristle with life and activity, Eve finished entering a final line of code into her console and waited anxiously. Soon, a soft hum radiated out from her drones as they flashed and flew into the air at her side. Reaching out carefully, Eve placed her hands on Moby and Remy and patted them on the head.

_Good. All repairs were successful._ An odd, bittersweet warmth ran through her as they hovered quietly at her side. Eve tried to run an error check to trace the source of the strange sensation, but after coming up with no results, she attributed the feeling to mild overheating and she decided to return to her room and rest for a bit. Upon arrival, she found Rena sitting on the edge of her bed and mixing a thick, pale liquid in a wooden bowl. As soon as Eve entered the room, Rena turned back and smiled brightly at her.

"Oh, welcome back." Rena quickly took note of the two drones floating at Eve's side and tilted her head slightly. "Ah, are those nasod too? Did you find them somewhere near here?"

Eve shook her head firmly. "No, these are my drones, Moby and Remy. I have repaired and reinforced them to combat parameters." Moby and Remy followed close behind Eve as she stepped gracefully across the cluttered floor and took a seat on the side of her own bed. Turning back to the mixture in her hands, Rena's smile softened and her eyes narrowed.

"Why would you need them to be able to fight?"

"It is necessary." Eve stared calmly and spoke with a solemn resolve. "I am not a combat model, and there is not much I can do on my own if I encounter enemies such as those we fought in the palace. I will need to fight if I am to discover what has happened to the Core."

"So you're going to go on your own?" Rena looked up anxiously pulled her whisk from the bowl, allowing the thick, gooey mixture to drip down its side.

Glancing toward the ground, Eve sat in silence for a moment and then turned back to Rena. "No, I will accompany you all in your search for the El. I believe that will lead us to the Core, and it would be best if we worked together."

Nodding happily, Rena gave another broad smile and returned to her stirring. "That's good, I'm glad. I would've had to stop you if you said you were going out there alone."

Unsure of what to make of Rena's concern, Eve simply nodded and returned to her thoughts, wondering whether or not Elsword was right when he said that Rena was already fond of her. Minutes passed as Rena continued mixing the milky syrup until it became a dense paste. Scooping out a small patch of the shimmering substance with her fingers, Rena reached down toward her injured ankle and rubbed the paste all over her foot and leg. As she returned to the bowl for another handful, she noticed that Eve's eyes were fixed on her and likely had been for some time.

"It's an herbal compound." Rena spoke as though she were answering a direct question, though she was really just narrating her actions for Eve. "It'll help the injury heal a lot faster than it normally would."

Eve shifted her gaze from Rena's ankle to the scars and bruises that covered her shins and shoulders. When she wore her traveling clothes and all of her gear, Rena's skin seemed bright and vibrant, free of any blemish or flaw. Seeing the record of wounds scattered across her body, however, Eve realized that this was only because Rena was adept at hiding her injuries. Turning her attention back to the strange, pungent paste, Eve tried to recall what little she had learned about human anatomy only to find that her records were over a thousand years old and, more obviously, ill-suited to understanding elves. "It seems very difficult to repair a body made of organic material"

"Oh, you mean skin and bones and such?" Rena splattered a large glob of gel onto her foot and massaged it into the skin around her heel. "You're right, it's not very convenient, and it can take a long time to recover from even small injuries if you don't take care of them properly. What about you though? It must be a lot easier to take care of yourself when your body isn't this fragile."

Scanning her memory, Eve shook her head softly. "No... that is not entirely true. It may actually be easier to repair your body than to repair mine." As she spoke, her drones drifted over to her side and began rolling around across her bed playfully. "Almost every part of my body can be crafted and replaced, but only if I have the appropriate materials and a fabricator or a machine lathe. More than that, all nasod were originally born of the core, and its method of production is still largely unknown to us. Even if I were to make an exact replica of my core components, I would not function with replacement circuits or processors. Repairing nasod may be faster, but it is far more convenient to heal on your own regardless of what parts and materials are available to you."

"Ah, I guess you're right. We can just eat whatever food is laying around and our bodies will fix themselves after a while..." Rena rifled through the pockets of her bandolier and picked out a roll of gauze and thread. Raising her sprained ankle up to the bedside, she began wrapping her foot firmly until it was entirely covered in soft white cotton. While she was dressing her wounds, Eve remained silent, turning back to her bed and staring at her drones. Occasionally, she would reach out and pat one of them on the head or give them a gentle push, sending them hopping lightly across her pillows. Rena tried to keep herself from prying, but she also wasn't trying very hard. Soon, she was watching Eve's hands as they drifted gently over her sheets and wondering whether the faint haze over her eyes was really as sorrowful as it seemed. Returning her foot to the floor, Rena leaned forward and smiled faintly.

"Eve... were you lonely, when you were all on your own?"

Turning quickly to meet Rena's eyes, Eve composed herself and leveled her voice. "Nasod do not feel lonely." Despite her words, she spoke with a vague longing that gave Rena cause to doubt.

"Oh, I see..." _She really must not know how lonely she sounds... I thought it might just be me misreading her at first, but she seems completely unaware of how she feels... oh, maybe I could tease her a bit. _"It's just that you looked lonely playing with your drones there."

Eve gave an immediate, stern look of denial while blushing lightly. "I was not playing. This is training for combat."

Rena giggled. "I see, I see..." She sighed fondly and Eve turned back to Moby and Remy, watching as they bumped into one another lightly and rolled aimlessly over the side of the bed and onto the floor. As Eve glared at them sternly, they hovered back up to the bed and sat before her expectantly. After receiving a sharp nod from their queen, Remy and Moby resumed their small bounds and cheerful rolling. Watching the odd spectacle before her, Rena's thoughts drifted into the future and she considered the inevitable conflict ahead of them. More than that, she began to understand the real weight of Eve's sacrifice; though she had spent all those years asleep, Eve has been fighting for longer than any of them in her own way. To spend centuries firing a single shot into the darkness and hoping that it would be enough to revive her people and then wake up to find not only that she had failed, but that somehow, someone was mass producing nasod and sending them off into battle. _Maybe it's because she really doesn't have any emotions and I'm just projecting them onto her... but, if she does..._

Rena closed her eyes for a moment and smiled gently. "I'm heading out to the market. Did you need anything?"

Eve shook her head firmly. "No, I will be fine."

"Okay~ Then I'll surprise you with something." Rena bounced forward onto her good leg and grabbed a warped wooden crutch, steadying herself as she scooped up her bandolier and slung it over her shoulder. Abruptly turning away from Rena and glancing down at her hands, Eve stumbled over her words, finally managing a quiet, quivering reply.

"T-Thank you..."

* * *

"Okay, now take off your pants and hold our your arms."

Raven grimaced and glanced down at his side. "...Do you really need all of this?"

Holding a thin ribbon of measuring tape, a cheerful young ponggo waited patiently as he unbuckled his trousers and stripped down to his underwear. Standing in the middle of the village armorer, which was really just a clothing store that stocked a small selection of travel gear, Raven held himself as steady as he could while the clothier took down the most excessive array of measurements in this history of fashion. After obtaining the circumference of Raven's calves and the width of his knee, the clothier hurried over to a small desk and began making a series of scribbles and notations on a large sheet of vellum.

"Yes, absolutely necessary." The ponggo addressed Raven while speaking into the paper in front of her, pressing her face close to her desk as she furiously sketched out a series of designs. "I've never made clothes for humans before, so I need to make sure I've got everything right! Ah! This is so nerve wracking... Here, give me your left arm again." Raven headed over hesitantly, holding his nasod arm out as gently as he could.

"Do you think I could put my clothes back on now?"

"No!" The clothier jumped up and her eyes widened. "No! I need more measurements still. Ah~!" She ruffled the fur atop her head and sighed heavily. "I'm sorry, please bear with me for a little while longer... I promise I'll give you a good deal because of all the trouble..."

Raven straightened his back and firmed up his stance, nodding sharply to the clothier. "Don't worry about it. I'm just glad you agreed to try."

"Of course, I won't turn down any customers! I'm just a little bit nervous because it's my first year on my own and-" The shrill tone of a tiny, jingling bell filled the air and the clothier instantly turned toward the door and smiled brightly. "Hello! How are you today? Let me know if there's anything I can help you with!"

"Okay, sure~" From the doorway, the bright melody of Rena's voice fluttered over bolts of cloth and piles of linen. As soon as he heard her familiar voice, Raven turned and locked eyes with Rena, which he later realized only drew her attention to him that much faster. The moment she saw Raven standing in the middle of the shop in nothing but a rumpled pair of blue boxers, she blinked a dozen times and then began to stare, grinning broadly as her eyes fell across him.

"Oh... Why hello there." Rena giggled lightly. "Should I come back another time?"

"No, that's fine..." Raven cleared his throat uncomfortably, "Er... I don't mind..."

"Yes, please stay!" The clothier glared desperately at Rena. "I need all the business I can get! Is there anything you need or want me to make for you?"

"Hm..." Rena pulled herself around to a stack of brightly colored mufflers and scarves. "She could probably use a scarf... do you have any in a darker color? I don't think she wears anything but white or black...Ah, maybe pink, but it doesn't look like you have any of that..."

"Just a minute!" The clothier hopped down from her desk and rushed off into the back of the shop. "Let me check the storeroom!"

With the owner searching frantically through her stock for a muffler in charcoal grey, Rena walked toward the center of the store and browsed through a row of belts and pouches, glancing up at Raven as she leaned against her crutch.

"I was surprised to see you here. What are you getting fitted for?"

"Clothes." Raven answered bluntly, grimacing awkwardly when he realized just how caustic his answer had sounded. "For traveling, since what I have now is mostly shredded." He glanced down at his tattered shirt which, in its current state, looked more like a pile of trimmings and scrap left over from a flour sack than anything to be worn.

Shifting her weight carefully, Rena turned toward a stack of socks and began thumbing through them. "That's probably for the best. It'd be a problem if you froze to death during the night." She grinned and looked to him through the corner of her eye, catching the faintest glimpse of a subtle smile on Raven's face. As she returned to the pile of silk stockings in front of her, her smile faded and she thought back over the past few days. "How are you feeling now?"

Raven turned and glared at the far wall, knowing full well that Rena wasn't asking about the cuts and scrapes on his arms and legs. Breathing in slowly, he held his head up and his voice relaxed.

"I'm alright. I'm sorry I caused so much trouble for you all, but I think I've found an answer."

"I see..." Rena sighed fondly and her smile returned as she turned around and leaned back against a large armoire. Before she could take the time to consider how she might tease Raven about his present state of undress, she found him staring at her earnestly.

"What about you though? How are you doing?"

"Ah, me?" Rena put on a confident smile and lifted her bandaged foot. "It's almost all healed up, I'm just keeping my weight off of it for now."

"Is that really all?" A measure of concern bled through into Raven's normally stoic voice. Rena laughed lightly and pushed off of the armoire.

"You don't need to worry about me like that. I'm pretty good at taking care of myself after a hundred years of practice or so." She winked blithely and Raven chuckled.

"I don't doubt that."

"There, see, that's a lot better." Rena grinned playfully. "That smile looks a lot better on you than your dark, brooding, suicide-face."

"What-" Raven frowned slightly as he remembered his conversation with Rena on the Black Crow. "... That was a bit dramatic, wasn't it?"

"Just a bit." Rena giggled and glanced up at Raven fondly, setting him off balance with a soft, careless smile.

Just then, the clothier finally emerged from the stock room and rushed out into the shop, waving a dark grey muffler over her head.

"Here..." She offered the scarf up to Rena, panting.

"Ah, perfect. Thanks~" Rena reached into her bandolier and pulled out a handful of small coins. "Here you go. Is that enough?"

"Y-Yes! Thank you!" The clothier bowed graciously as she accepted Rena's money, quickly running to her desk and depositing it inside. "Please come back and see us again!"

"Of course~" Rena smiled and turned to Raven. "I'll see you later then. Oh, let me know if you're hungry later. It'd be nice if all of us could eat together while we have the chance."

Raven nodded. "Right." He looked down at his bare skin and his crumpled clothes on the ground by his feet. "...This may take some time."

"It's okay, we'll wait up for you." Rena waved and hobbled out through the door and out of the shop, disappearing into a crowd of passing ponggos. As Raven watched her disappear into a stream of hurried shoppers, he felt a sudden tension around his waist as the clothier pulled her measuring tape around him.

"Okay! I think I've almost got it done, just a couple dozen more numbers from you now..."

Raven frowned and steeled himself for another round of excessive measurement. "Very well. Let's get on with it."

* * *

Clenching her fist tightly at her side, Aisha walked up to the front door of a small tavern and stopped.

_This is the place Rena told me we were all supposed to meet at, right? I just hope I'm not the first one here..._

Taking a deep breath, she reached forward and pulled the door handle. Inside, the lively din of conversation wafted through the air and the soft glow of electric lights warmed the room. The moment Aisha stepped inside, however, the atmosphere crumbled. Half of the ponggos gathered in the dining hall paid her no mind, but among the others, several dropped their food and stared warily while a few quietly gathered their things and hurried out of the side entrance. Scowling involuntarily, Aisha swept her eyes across the room in hopes of finding Rena somewhere nearby. Almost immediately, an anxious, jittery barkeep hopped down from his post and rushed to meet Aisha.

"I-I'm sorry miss, we've got no seats available right now. There's a big group coming in just a few minutes from now so you'll have to come back another time."

Aisha fought her frustration and tried to keep a kind, gentle expression. Unfortunately, after forcing herself to smile and wave all day long, a dark glower was the kindest face she could manage. "I'm meeting my friends here. Are any of them here yet?"

"Ah, um, no, as a matter of fact..." The barkeep fidgeted and tapped his fingers together as he did his level best to look as far away from Aisha's face as he possibly could while still facing her. "They've probably gone to find another place to eat, you know, with that large party coming in later and all, so-"

"What the hell's your problem?" From the corner of the room, Elsword stood up from a small table and glared harshly at the barkeep. "There's a ton of empty space all around here. Besides, she can sit with me."

"Ah, but-!" The barkeep looked around and, finding himself in the path of both Aisha and Elsword's piercing gazes, backed down. "I-I guess that'll be okay then." He took a slow step backward and then hurried back to the bar where he tended to a row of chuckling patrons.

"...What the hell is wrong with him?" Elsword mumbled to himself as he and Aisha headed back to the small table in the corner. Sighing wearily, Aisha plopped herself down in the chair across from Elsword and stared out across the room.

"A lot of the people here are afraid of me, because I'm a vicious evil witch who eats children and wears their teeth as a necklace."

"Huh?" Elsword looked up from his bowl of fish stew, "When did you start doin' that?"

Aisha curled her lips in and huffed at him. "I wasn't being serious."

"So why mrnnnfff-" Elsword slurped a thick bundle of noodles into his mouth and chewed on a large fish cheek, swallowing everything in a single gulp. "Why are they afraid of you then?"

"Because..." Aisha began to pout. "I don't know. The Chief said it was because I look like the dark magicians from fairy tales everybody here heard when they were kids, but it still doesn't make sense. It's not like I'm a dragon or an ogre or anything like that..."

"Heh...You're probably stronger than a dragon though, so at least they've got a good reason." Elsword tilted his bowl back and took a sip of rich, steaming broth.

"Was that supposed to be a compliment?" Aisha slammed her fist down onto the table and stared sharply. In the next instant, she relax and lowered her head as her shoulders sank. "Sorry..."

More than a bit confused, Elsword set down his bowl and crossed his arms. "I don't really get it, but, maybe ponggos are just stupid."

"Elsword!" Aisha's eyes went wide and she leaned forward. "Don't say things like that! They're not any stupider than humans, and they can also hear you!"

"Well, what else could it be?" He glared back indignantly as Aisha lowered herself back into her seat and began to whisper, suddenly conscious of the sea of eyes and ears turned toward them.

"I don't know, but you can't just go around calling a whole group of people stupid like that!"

Elsword furrowed his brow and his mouth wrinkled up awkwardly. "Whatever. I still think they're stupid though. Anybody who knows you would never think you're a monster or anything like that even if you did wear a string of baby teeth or whatever, so it's just stupid that they do."

"Elsword, that's-" _Stupid..._ Aisha couldn't bring herself to finish that sentence. Even though she felt obligated to correct his unfair, sweeping generalizations, the sentiment behind them struck her unexpectedly. He had just proclaimed her absolute innocence with a straight face, like it was something natural, like it was something he had never even questioned. Somewhere, around the back of her neck and spreading down toward her stomach, she felt a strange, prickly sensation, a mixture of deep appreciation along with something that she couldn't quite identify, at least until her stomach began to growl. Blushing lightly, she pushed her chair back and stood

"Wait, tell me what you want and I'll get it." Elsword chugged the last of his stew and set his bowl down with a quiet thud as he rose from his chair. "I'm still hungry, and that guy'll probably try to tell you they ran out of food or some crap like that."

Standing firm, Aisha walked over and stopped beside Elsword. "No, I'll do it. Fish stew, right?"

Elsword opened his mouth to speak but quickly closed it again, nodding quickly as Aisha stomped off toward the bar. Within three minutes, she returned with two giant bowls of fish stew along with a plate of apple bread balanced between them. As she set Elsword's bowl down in front of him, he blinked and stared ravenously at the massive sea of food before him.

"How'd you get all this!?"

Aisha dropped the plate of apple bread between them and took her seat, shoveling a huge chunk of fish, kale, carrots, and broth into her mouth. She savored that single bite more than most anything she had eaten in the past three months, keeping her eyes on her food even as she answered Elsword.

"It's actually pretty useful to be a great and terrible dark magician sometimes. Now that I'm here, all they want to do is make sure I don't get mad at anybody." Returning her spoon to the table, she reached over to grab a thick slice of apple bread and noticed a distinct difference between her bowl and Elsword's. "Ah! You've got way more meat than I do!"

"What? No I don't, yours is just all at the bottom." Elsword protested adamantly as he stretched his hand in front of his bowl, guarding his grouper jealously.

"No, you've definitely got more." Aisha grabbed her spoon and thrust it into Elsword's stew, scooping up a large chunk of meat and sliding it into her mouth.

Elsword pushed his chair back and stood, leaning forward and glaring hard at Aisha. "I'm supposed to have more, I'm still growing!"

"That doesn't matter, I need it more! I'm not gonna stay this size forever!" Aisha aimed her spoon for another hunk of fish floating in Elsword's bowl and he blocked her with his fork.

Elsword stared at her cynically. "That's right. When you get old, you're gonna shrink."

Aisha's eyes flashed with fire and she shoved her spoon past Elsword's and into his stew once more, retrieving a small pile of fish and dumping it into her bowl.

"Tch..." Elsword pulled his bowl closer to his chest and started devouring his stew, hoping to eat the rest of it before Aisha got a chance to stage another raid. For the rest of the evening, the two of them sat bickering over food and exchanging sharp glances and wry grins. Despite their constant quarreling, Aisha felt oddly at ease, as though she had fallen into a familiar, comfortable pattern. Time passed so quickly and she felt so relaxed that it took her nearly an hour to realize that Rena and Raven were still nowhere in sight. As she split the last slice of apple bread with Elsword, she wondered what could have possibly been keeping Rena.

Across town, Rena, Raven, and Eve sat around a small table at a quaint, friendly cafe in the tunnels near the surface. As Rena finished off her salad and Raven started in on his grilled shark, Eve surveyed their surroundings and searched through the crowd.

"Aisha and the Red-Haired boy are very late. Rena, did you tell them we would be here?"

"Of course~" Rena grinned broadly, the slightest hint of mischief gleaming in her eyes. "I wonder where they are~ Ah, maybe they decided to go on a date somewhere." She clapped her hands together and smiled. "Oh well. I'm sure they'll catch up to us eventually."


	26. The Heart of Steel

The Heart of Steel

* * *

In the sleepy air of a winter's afternoon, Raven treaded heavily across the crisp, frosted grass of the surface plains. With his newly reforged and freshly tested sword in hand, he descended into the tunnels and headed toward the very bottom of the ponggo village. His new clothes were light and sturdy, a necessity since his new arm and shoulder guards were some of the heaviest he had ever worn. At Rena's suggestion, he even took a proper shower for the first time in ages, washing the sweat and dirt from his hair and causing it to puff out and fall over his forehead. Even his nasod arm shone brightly in the dull light of the hazy underground now that it had shed its coat of soot and grime. Satisfied with his new equipment and moving under an earnest resolve, Raven made his way through a narrow, winding cavern to take the final step toward the present. As he rounded the corner and stepped into a dull, crimson glow, he saw Eve standing beside a broad, shimmering table. Judging by the headrest, the array of wires and tubes sticking out of its side, and the rusted monitor hanging from its side, Raven could only assume that this was some sort of nasod operating table. Though it gave him pause, he had expected something of that nature. What he hadn't expected to see there was the silhouette of Aisha, standing in the corner anxiously and fiddling with her wand.

"It's about time you got here." Aisha jumped up to her feet and made her way over to the operating table, pouting the entire time. "We've been waiting almost an hour, and she still won't tell me what we're doing in a way that makes sense."

"I have told you before; it may be necessary to restrain him and you are the only one who could do so with any certainty." Eve opened her console and began sorting through a dozen translucent screens as Raven made his way toward her.

"Sorry, I didn't know she would drag you into this." He scowled aimlessly at the operating table and then softened his gaze as he turned back to Aisha. "I've asked her to remove the weapons built into this arm. They're too dangerous to use when there are other people around me."

Aisha glanced over to Raven's nasod arm and pressed her hands together unconsciously, the light burn on her palms still stinging as they touched. "Are you sure? It's almost stronger than my magic. If you used that, it'd make fighting against those nasod a lot easier..."

"No. I'll fight with my sword, because I can trust that. I can't trust this arm, not when someone's life is at stake." Clenching his claw into a fist, he glared down at his mechanical hand with contempt. When he looked up again, Eve was standing before him with a pair of long, spindly wires in hand.

"Before I disable the weaponry in this device, there is something that I need to test. Please remain still."

"Wait." Raven held up his right hand as Eve moved to place the two wires into his left arm. "What are you going to test?"

A slow, simmering tension rose in the air as Eve locked eyes with Raven. When she spoke, her voice carried an unnerving, ominous gravity throughout the chamber. "The code used to control you has been reconstructing itself."

The sting of fear shot through Raven's spine and his eyes darkened. "What are you talking about? This arm wasn't controlling me, it was just influencing me. Didn't you take all of that out in the mountain?" He stared down at Eve coldly, a churning anxiety swelling in the pit of his stomach. Turning quietly, Eve slid her hands across her console screens, enlarging two tiny windows that flickered rapidly as a stream of illegible lines flashed through the air.

"I know that you cannot read this, but this is the code that your arm's core programming is writing as we speak. When I finished extracting the control code, I began monitoring your arm to ensure it would not malfunction and cause you harm. Seven hours ago, it began recompiling itself from the base code that I left intact. I apologize for not realizing this sooner, but I need to test its effects once more."

"Hold on, what are you saying?" Aisha's eyes widened and her shoulders tensed up as she slowly made sense of Eve's declaration. "His arm is going to start controlling him again?"

"That is exactly what-"

"Just take out everything then. What do you need to run tests for?" Raven's voice rose and sharpened, gaining an edge of urgency as he watched the flood of code filling Eve's screens. Holding out her hands and pointing the pair of wires in them at Raven's arm, Eve approached him once more.

"You are convinced that it did not control you, but I have found something troubling in the code of that arm. Once I have tested it, I will strip away all of its code and write a new program to allow you to control its movements. I will not force you to go along with this..." For just a moment, her eyes and voice wavered and a faint desperation fell over her face. "But this code could be something far more dangerous than I originally expected."

Raven opened his mouth to agree, but his voice caught in his throat. Without warning, a sudden wave of terror washed over him and he froze. He could scarcely explain his sudden apprehension, let alone act against it. With the crippling, creeping dread slowly spreading throughout his body, he gritted his teeth together and glared fiercely at Eve.

"...Do it. Quickly."

Eve nodded and turned aside to Aisha. "Be prepared to restrain him at any moment."

"R-right..." Aisha held her wand out firmly, breathing deep and slow as Eve attached the two wires to the inside of Raven's left arm.

After a slight tingle, Raven suddenly felt his anxiety disappear as his terror receded into the scarlet shadows of the murky chamber. In fact, he felt remarkable. Why hadn't he noticed before? His body felt so light and powerful, he wanted to run across the plains and bound across the mountainside. His heart began to race as a strange, unearthly ecstasy flowed into his veins and his lungs filled to the brim. Abruptly, his eyes shifted around him and he glanced all around the room. What was he doing here? There was no time for this. Pointless tests and invasive operations weren't something he needed right now. In fact, he wasn't sure why he had ever thought to disable the weaponry of his nasod arm. It was powerful, and it was much easier to use than any blade. With that, he could easily tear through the hoards of enemies that stood in the way of his goals. As for what those goals were, he was having a bit of trouble remembering... A vague promise stuck in the back of his mind, something Rena had asked him to agree to... what was it... what was it that he promised her? Ah, that's right... To destroy the kingdom of Velder.

"Aisha, hold him down!" Eve shouted frantically and her voice ricocheted through the air like a burst of shrapnel. At her side, Aisha pressed her wand into the hard rock below, her hands trembling as the glowing chains around Raven's left arm began to creak and snap.

"I'm trying! He's just too strong!" Widening her stance, she held out her right hand and pointed toward Raven. "I'll have to knock him out."

"Wait!" Eve typed into her console furiously, stealing a glance up at Raven as he pulled against Aisha's chains and headed toward the doorway. "If you interrupt the code now it could permanently damage his consciousness!" She took her right hand off of her keyboard and waved it toward Raven, sending Moby and Remy out from her side and onto his arm. With Eve's drones and Aisha's magic, Raven was just barely held in place. His breathing became heavy and labored as a maniacal grin spread across his face, eager to break free of his bonds and return to the battlefield. With vacant eyes and trembling legs, he slowly pulled his nasod arm forward and Aisha's chains twisted and snapped.

"Please hold on! I will purge its code!" With wide eyes and an unsteady voice, Eve's fingers danced across her console while Aisha panted heavily, the last links of her binding circle crumbling into air. Just as Raven broke free and tossed Remy and Moby aside, a jolt of electricity shot through the two wires attached to his arm and he stumbled forward, falling flat on his face.

In the dim scarlet glow of the now silent cavern, Eve and Aisha stared cautiously at Raven's unconscious form. Waving her hand gently, Eve sent Remy and Moby to turn him over. Raven landed on his back with a loud thud and a sharp clatter as his nasod arm fell lifeless against the stone floor.

When he finally woke, he was laying on the operating table with a series of cords and tubes wrapped around his shoulder. Most immediately, he realized a sudden lack of sensation and he glanced down to his left. At his side, his steel claw and mechanical arm lay splayed open, their components scattered across a small tray at his side. When he tried to move his left hand, he found it cold and motionless, as though a dead limb were hanging at his side.

"Please do not try to move yet. I am still in the process of adjusting its electrical feedback." Eve stood at his feet, typing carefully and straightening the wires running into his left arm as she went along. From the other side of the room, a soft, lyrical voice floated past his ears.

"That's the third time we've had to tie you up, you know." Rena hopped off of a smooth rocky ledge and headed over to Raven's side and smiled gently. "Are you feeling any better? Ah, it sounds like I've asked out that a lot lately..." She laughed faintly as Raven squinted and shook his head out.

"What... what happened?"

"You have been unconscious for the past four hours." Eve moved around to his left and attached a pair of wires into his wrist. "After I reactivated the arm's core programming, it seized control of your consciousness immediately... I was not prepared for such a quick reaction." Eve averted her eyes, the faintest semblance of guilt marring her face. With the thick fog of his memory slowly clearing, Raven gradually recalled his thoughts and actions just before he fainted. The moment he remembered completely, the color drained from his skin and he clutched the side of his face with his right hand, his eyes quivering as his own thoughts became alien to him. A delicate warmth spread out over his shoulder as Rena placed her hand over his right arm and held it gently. Calming slightly, Raven lowered his hand and breathed out slowly.

"I can't..." He paused, gathering himself and his thoughts as the weariness of sleep faded from his bones. "I can't explain it... but you were right." He turned aside to Eve as she worked steadily, removing an old circuit from his arm and sliding a new one into its place. "It was like I was in complete control, I thought I knew what I was doing and that I was making my own decisions, but it-" His voice cracked quietly and he hesitated, still trying to sort out what it was that had just happened to him. Before he could make sense of it himself, Eve offered him the answer.

"The code in this arm was an adaptive control mechanism designed to manipulate humans. As a part of its base programming, it alters key neurological processes in order to change thoughts and impulses as it sees fit. In order to disguise itself, it then makes the victim feel as if their thoughts and actions were entirely their own doing. The reason you were able to resist it before is likely due to an error that developed over the course of its operation."

"You mean that... every time I gave an order, every time I killed someone in cold blood, I was just being tricked into thinking I was the one making those decisions?" Raven stared up at the ceiling, drifting back over every bloodstained soldier he'd slaughtered over the past three years. Even though Eve had just told him that he was completely innocent of his crimes, the weight of the lives lost at his hands remained.

"I had a feeling this would be the case though..." Rena closed her eyes in solemn reflection as she tried to count the number of lives lost because of such a small machine. "It didn't make sense that you were so willing to stop yourself and repent when you had been doing the exact same thing for years on end, and it didn't seem like there was anything big enough to cause such a huge change in your attitude..." She smiled bitterly as she stared off into the shadows, "There were only two possibilities really, that you were being controlled against your will, or that you were only feigning remorse. I know... you probably don't care to hear this now, but... I'm glad it wasn't really your fault."

"No." Raven raised his head as far as he could and propped himself up on his right elbow, his eyes glowing faintly with a bold determination. "It doesn't matter who made the decisions. It was still my hand that killed them, and even if it wasn't my fault, it's still my responsibility."

Rena suddenly felt as though a cool breeze had just swept across her face, swirling about and carrying off the lingering darkness that lurked in the corners of the room. Her hand slid from Raven's shoulder and fell to her side, swinging around behind her to meet its pair and embracing it firmly. "Are you sure?" Is what Rena said, although her tone and gaze made it obvious that she really meant 'I'm impressed'. "You've got a lot of trouble ahead of you if you decide to take responsibility for someone else's crimes..."

Turning aside to meet her eyes, Raven cracked a sharp, reckless smile. "If that's what it takes, I'm fine with that. If I have any chance at all to redeem myself, then I've got no reason to complain about what it'll cost."

For some time now, Eve had been glancing over her shoulder at a large, flickering screen hovering over her shoulder, her countenance falling as she scanned the lines of code running across its surface. Closing the cover to Raven's arm, she stepped away from the operating table and studied her console closely. A stirring silence swelled around her, drawing Raven and Rena's attention to the bright, flashing light reflected in her eyes.

Eve turned back to face them and when she spoke, her voice sliced through the stillness with a keen, frigid dread. "There is a greater danger here than the weaponized nasod we encountered."

"What do you mean? Did you find out something?" Rena moved around the table and looked on over Eve's shoulder, though she was largely unable to decipher the rapid stream of images flickering before her.

"Yes. This arm is not a prototype. It is a second series production model."

Raven scowled bitterly. "You mean this isn't the only one they made?"

"Exactly." Eve turned to her console and enlarged a single screen, revealing a detailed schematic of Raven's nasod arm. "If it's production code is following nasod standards, there were at least three hundred and thirteen produced before this one. It is very likely that whoever made them is planning to use them in a similar manner by capturing humans and attaching a nasod limb which will then take control of their consciousness. From the models I have run, the ultimate conclusion of the code used by this arm is always the same: To kill a great number of humans in major centers of population."

"Why..." Rena stared intensely at the soft glow of the screen above, her eyes piercing its frosted sheen. "What would anyone gain by making people kill one another? If the same person is making nasod for combat, then wouldn't it be easier just to manufacture an army and invade rather than kidnapping humans and attaching a machine to them?"

"It may be..." Eve paused as a startlingly unpleasant possibility came to mind. "It may be that the one responsible for this holds humans in great contempt. That could explain why they used the sovereign of Elder to steal the El crystal rather than stealing it themselves. It is obvious that they have the capabilities to do so, but they insist on remaining hidden and working indirectly..."

"Then that makes it simple." Raven's scowl faded and he breathed in slowly. "The one who bolted this arm to me is the same one who arranged the theft of Ruben's El and began producing nasod as weapons. We just need to stop that one person then."

Eve nodded. "It may be simple, but it will not be easy... And also, I have some idea of who might be responsible for all of this..."

* * *

"Ah~" Aisha fell forward onto her bed, her face landing with a great floof in the middle of her pillow. _I used up way too much energy training Elsword today... and right after dealing with Raven too. I need a nap and... ah, I wonder if Eve's little robots would give me a shoulder rub? She'd probably never let me use them, so maybe I can trick them with some food or treats... What do robots eat anyway?_

Aisha sighed and rolled onto her back, grabbing her pillow and squeezing it against her stomach. If she were being honest with herself, she would have been worrying about the El, about the nasod, and about the most obvious question of all: Just how would they get off of an island floating in the sky over the middle of the ocean? For today, though, she wanted to pretend they were somewhere peaceful, to relax and savor every second she had laying on a soft bed, eating warm food, even wandering around a lively town, despite the way the locals treated her. It suddenly struck her as an oddity, that she had been traveling and fighting so much since her exile that even a normal day spent in an inhospitable place felt like a grand luxury. What she found truly strange, however, was the fact that she didn't particularly feel like complaining about in the least.

With dinner already resting in her belly and nothing to occupy her time, Aisha rolled back and forth lazily, finally settling on her side and huffing as she hugged her pillow. Just as she was about to resign herself to rereading the appendices of her grimoire, the door creaked open and Eve entered the room.

Aisha sat up immediately and tossed her pillow aside. "How did it go?"

"He is mentally stable, if that is what you are asking. Rena is with him now, and he should recover completely by tomorrow morning." Eve waited for Remy and Moby to draw the door closed behind her before making her way over to the corner of the room. As she sat alongside her bed and opened her console, Aisha turned to follow her.

"What about you? You're okay, right?"

Eve paused, unprepared for such a question and confused by its very nature. "I-I am fine. Why do you ask?"

"Because, I was really worried leaving you alone with him when I ran to go get Rena... Even if he did pass out, I kept thinking he might wake up any second." Aisha shook her head out at the thought of Raven waking up, controlled by his nasod arm and on a rampage through the ponggo village.

Eve began to blush lightly, glancing aside to hide her face. "You were... concerned for my safety...?" Hesitating for a moment, she soon turned back to her console and began pouring over a small string of glowing screens. After typing furiously for nearly a minute, she paused abruptly, her eyes still focused on the displays in front of her as she spoke. "T-thank you..."

"Oh, sure..." Aisha blinked, surprised to hear a response after such a long, awkward silence. _I was completely wrong... it's not getting any easier to talk to her! _She turned to face the wall and her head fell back onto her pillow, leaving her to stare at the smooth stone ceiling and the stark shadows cast upon it. _At least Rena's okay, and Raven..._The image of Raven's crazed, bloodthirsty grin flashed through Aisha's thoughts and she cringed slightly. The very thought of being so thoroughly controlled by a machine, or by anything for that matter, left Aisha with a churning, sick sensation in her stomach. Before she could dwell on her discomfort, Eve's voice drifted across her ears.

"Aisha. Have you been to the country called Velder?"

Lifting herself back into an upright position, Aisha turned aside and crossed her legs, pushing her hands down into the bed just in front of her. "I went once, about a year ago, but I didn't stay for very long. Why?"

Eve waited a moment, considering her question carefully. "I wanted to know what sort of people lived there."

"Hm..." Aisha curled her lips in and searched her memory, finding little more than scraps and hearsay to offer as a response. "I suppose they're just like people living everywhere else. Most of them were nice enough when I was there, but it was just for one day, and I only talked to a few store clerks. You should ask Raven, he was born there, wasn't he?"

"No..." Eve pulled her hands away from her keyboard for a moment and stared blankly at her console. "It is not that important..."

Aisha opened her mouth to press on, but her search for words failed completely. Still not tired enough to sleep and not motivated enough to launch another attempt at conversation, Aisha looked around and finally settled on going over a particularly difficult chapter in her grimoire to pass the time. The moment she opened the tome and poured over its pages, however, a rather significant obstacle came to her attention. _...The light's way too dim in here to read anything. Using fire would probably be __a bad idea inside a cavern like this too, especially since I'm pretty sure our pillows are stuffed with flash powder..._ Sliding a bookmark into her grimoire, she picked herself up and looked around the room for the corner with the best light. She found it, ironically, right next to Eve, where the glow of her console illuminated the area around her quite nicely. Steeling herself for an awkward encounter, Aisha picked up her grimoire and headed over to Eve, pulling a chair along behind her.

"Can I sit next to you? The light's too dim to read anywhere else."

Eve looked up from her console and nodded. "Yes. Go ahead."

Setting her chair right next to Eve's, Aisha sat with her grimoire in her lap and busied herself with a review of artificial atrophy and its practical applications. As she had feared, or perhaps as she preferred, Eve spent the next hour in silence and as far as Aisha could tell, she was completely focused on whatever work lay before her. As time dragged on, the excessive repetition of her grimoire and its incessant reiterations on formulae and sigil construction were fast becoming an excellent sedative. As she began nodding wearily, she shook her head out and closed her grimoire, setting it aside and smacking her cheeks lightly. Barely awake, she turned aside to Eve and promptly yawned.

"Aaaah~ ah... Thanks for the light. I'm headed to sleep now, so-" A surprising sight caught Aisha off guard. Sitting next to her, still straight upright and facing her console, Eve slept quietly, her eyes shut and her mouth slightly open as her breath escaped her as a faint 'coo'. "How long has she been asleep... Hey." Just as Aisha reached out to shake her shoulder, Eve slumped to the side and fell over onto Aisha's lap, rolling her head to the side and draping her arms across Aisha's legs.

After flinching for a moment, Aisha's shock subsided and she stared down at Eve's sleeping face. She wasn't particularly cold, as most machines were. She wasn't particularly hard or rigid, as Aisha had expected. More than anything, though, one significant measure stood out at Aisha relaxed and sighed softly.

_Is she really a machine?...She isn't heavy at all._


	27. A Steady Pulse

A Steady Pulse

* * *

A shrill whistle wrapped around Raven's ears as he checked over his gear in the crisp chill of the early morning twilight. Slinging his bedroll over his shoulder, he stepped out of the shadows and onto the plains, staring out across the vast fields of rippling reeds and wheat, abbreviated by a handful of rusted, decrepit metal towers, the remnants of an ancient nasod city long since abandoned to the wind and rain. After a quick look around, Raven realized that neither Rena nor Elsword nor Aisha nor Eve had arrived yet and, judging by the hour, he suspected a short while would pass before they were all assembled here. As he turned back toward the tunnels to gather additional supplies before setting out, Raven saw that he had not been standing there alone.

"Ah, here you are." Chief Adel climbed carefully out onto the plains and stood facing Raven cheerfully. "You are a difficult man to catch up with. If you've the time to spare, I was hoping to have a word with you before you set out."

"With me?" Raven glared, his astonishment concealed behind a slight scowl. Smiling heartily, Adel nodded.

"Yes. If you don't mind terribly, would you come with me to my study?"

Raven glanced around, reassuring himself that the sun was still an hour from fully rising before he nodded to Adel and followed him back down into the village.

* * *

"What's taking him so long?" Elsword yawned and stretched his arms out behind his head as the sun peeked over the horizon. "I thought he said he'd be here waiting for us?"

"Hm..." Rena stared off across the plains as she searched aimlessly for some sign of Raven. "I don't think he would have left without us... maybe we should go back down and check on him."

Aisha tightened her belts and slid her grimoire back into is pack. "I saw him headed up this way when I went down to get breakfast though. He should've been here already."

"One moment..." Eve brought up her console and began typing rapidly. "I will try to trace the material signature of his nasod arm."

"There's no need." Everyone turned back toward the tunnels as Raven's low, grizzled voice echoed into the air and he stepped into the sunlight. "Sorry for the wait. Let's go."

Nodding and closing her console, Eve took the lead alongside Rena and everyone else followed close behind as they set off across the swaying sea of sleeping reeds. After nearly an hour of marching and without a single enemy in sight, Elsword began fidgeting uneasily.

"Hey, why're we headed the long way around? Can't we get into that core-thing from where we fell in at?" Scanning the field ahead of him, Elsword glanced forward to Eve who continued on, unimpeded by his skepticism.

"The palace entrance will be blocked by enemies, and the primary entrance to the Core will be difficult to infiltrate. We will make our way to the rear entrance on the far side of the island. That area is much harder to secure and will be easier to break into."

Elsword scowled, partly because he found a two day hike across the plains a painfully long wait when the El was so close, and partly because he had no idea where anything was and so resigned himself to nodding silently at Eve's every instruction. The anxiety of the situation did not settle on Elsword alone and just to his side, Aisha's eyes darted across the horizon, searching for any sign of movement as she clutched her wand tightly. Guarding the rear, Raven was occupied similarly, keeping his guard up and expecting an ambush at every moment. The sheer number of nasod that had descended on them in the palace had placed everyone on edge, especially given the speed with which they had managed to surround them in an enclosed area. Out in the open, with only a withered bush or a wilting tree for cover, their odds might not be so favorable.

Just after the sun had reached its peak and began to fall back toward the sea, Eve stopped and stared into the distance.

"Wait." She raised a hand and pointed toward the overgrown, cluttered piles of scrap and rust that filled the plains just a few hundred yards ahead. "These are the Return Plains. Old nasod reaching the end of their life gather here. If the weaponized nasod have similar programming, they may also congregate here and will likely be hostile."

Aisha gazed out at the silent, strangely serene graveyard of mechanical souls. Scattered across the ground, piled into heaps, and covered with a dry tangle of roots and vines, the bodies of nasod lay in an eerily peaceful repose. It reminded Aisha of the elephants from her home country, separating themselves from the herd to die in peace and simply laying down with their eyes closed, waiting for life to leave them behind. As she watched the frozen corpses of the ancient nasod, a slow, uneven clattering rose to her ears. Within an instant, everyone had their eyes focused on a small, armored nasod as it hobbled toward them aimlessly. Stepping out in front of Eve and Rena, Raven drew his sword and glared sternly at his target.

"Are there others nearby?"

Eve opened her console quickly and shook her head. "The field ahead is covered with thousands of drones and weaponized nasod. It is impossible to tell how many of them are still functional enough to attack, but..." She stared solemnly at the graves ahead, her mouth hanging open as she searched for signs of life and found only signs of motion. "...It is safe to assume that they will all be hostile."

Raven nodded. "Alright. I'll take care of this one then." He walked four yards ahead, taking a firm but narrow stance as he waited for the nasod to enter his range.

"Wait, you won't be able to hurt that thing with that..." Elsword headed over to Raven's side, doubtful as he appraised the slender blade in Raven's hand and the thick armor on the lumbering nasod. Ignoring him, Raven dashed forward. As he neared, the nasod lunged toward him, flailing its arms wildly. In a single motion, Raven ducked beneath its arms, spun around to its back, and thrust his sword twice. As soon as he stepped back, the nasod groaned and toppled forward, smoke billowing from its neck and sparks crackling around its feet. Just a few feet away, Elsword blinked and stared, his eyes wide in disbelief.

"How-" His words caught in his throat as he tried to trace Raven's movements in his memory and failed.

"That's just the difference between precision and carelessly smacking everything you see." Aisha glared at him and nodded as she walked past to join Raven. Next to her, Eve glanced down at the joints in the nasod's knees, each cleanly severed by a single stroke.

"I agree. It is a much more efficient method of attack than 'careless smacking'"

"Don't worry about it too much," Rena smiled and patted Elsword on the shoulder as she passed him. "Everybody has something they're good at, so you shouldn't make such a scary face about it."

"What face?" Elsword scowled fiercely and stormed off, taking his blade in hand and glaring at the scattered nasod in the distance. Following after him, Rena giggled as they all made their way into the graveyard of the nasod.

The anxious tension in the air vanished as Elsword stepped into the valley of fallen nasod. A single, well worn road ran through the plains, interrupting what would have otherwise been an endless mire of forgotten souls, their bodies stacked a dozen feet high and mangled by centuries of neglect. It was as though the sea had parted, giving travelers just enough room to pass through and bear witness to the fragmented remnants of the ancient dead.

With a half dozen broken, shambling nasod headed toward him, Elsword breathed in sharply and rushed forward. The nearest nasod reeled back and swung at him clumsily, missing Elsword as he rolled to its side and drew a deep gash across the nasod's back with the edge of his blade, dropping it to the ground. A garbled screech rang out behind him as a limping machine stumbled toward him, a small cannon raised in its arms as it hurtled over the road. Running to meet his attacker, Elsword pulled his blade up swiftly, raising the nasod into the air and tossing it overhead. Just before it landed, Aisha thrust a burst of fire into its chest and sent it tumbling back into the wall of corpses. Just above her, a small drone peppered the ground with a haphazard spray of gunfire, forcing Rena and Eve to take cover nearby. Chanting quickly, Aisha summoned a swirling orb of dark energy and suspended it into the air before her. In a single instant, she teleported up atop the wall and kicked the nasod down into the mass of dark magic below, rapidly shocking and battering its armor and breaking its rifle in two. As it fell, Eve leapt forward and swung her hand out, sending Moby and Remy flying into the nasod's chest and pinning it to the wall with a violent crash. Just beside her, a tattered mining nasod pulled itself free from a heap of debris and leapt toward her. Spinning on her heels and stamping the ground smartly, Eve summoned a gleaming, silvery nasod spear from the earth that launched her target through the air. With a quick wave, she sent Moby and Remy to pin it to the nearby wall as Rena filled its arms with a flurry of arrows. Jumping across the uneven ledges formed by a tangled nest of broken limbs, Rena hopped up onto the pile of corpses and ran along its edge, firing a volley off into the neck of a large, hammer handed nasod and causing it to pitch sharply into the ground. Far ahead on the road, a nasod sniper leveled its cannon at her, its barrel trembling in the grasp of a single, half-rusted hand. Dashing aside, Rena fired off three shots that pierced the sniper's head cleanly but the nasod still stood with its weapon at the ready. Just as its muzzle flashed brightly, Raven reached rushed forward and punched the sniper to the ground with his left arm, sending a bright burst of gunfire sailing high into the air.

"Ah, thanks~" Rena smiled and waved happily, quickly raising her bow and pointing behind Raven to a pair of armored nasod bearing heavy shields and approaching his flank. As Rena's arrows glanced across their heavy shields, the nasod inched closer to Raven and one of them raised a crackling, electrified baton.

"Hmph." Raven scoffed and lunged to his right, ripping one nasod's shield away with his left hand and slicing both its arms off at the elbow in a single clean swipe. As he spun around behind, he swung out quickly and beheaded the nearest attacker, spinning his blade around and thrusting it into the next just as Rena fired a single, powerful shot that shattered its shield and dug into its chest.

"Just how many of these are still alive?" Aisha stood on guard as she looked down the road, watching as another dozen broken nasod crawled and clambered toward them. Just then, the wall behind her groaned and shrieked as a towering steel soldier pulled itself free from its comrades ragged corpses and roared. With its limbs twitching violently, the nasod reached out to grab Aisha and she ducked low, reaching up to grab its wrist and sending a fatal surge of lightning through its body. As one machine fell to its knees, three more descended on Aisha with their weapons drawn. With no time to move or attack, she grit her teeth and raised a faint, shimmering shield around her as she braced herself for the inevitable impact. In the very next instant, Eve dashed through the air and released a massive orb of electricity from her hands, bursting on contact and knocking Aisha's attackers to the ground. As the din of battle faded away, Eve floated gently to the ground and brushed off her sleeves.

"Aisha, are you uninjured?"

"Oh, yeah... I'm fine." Aisha nodded and straightened herself up, suppressing the urge to pout enviously. Up ahead of them, Elsword thrust his blade into the earth, sending a row of gleaming golden blades shooting up from the ground and cutting through the last of the errant nasod.

"Is that it?" He glanced around, keeping a firm grip on his sword and a flame in his hand as a trembling silence settled in around him. Scanning the screens of her console, Eve nodded.

"There do not seem to be any active nasod within three hundred yards."

"That was actually pretty refreshing." Rena stretched her arms out and smiled brightly. "Is everyone okay?"

Aisha checked herself over and pulled at a small tear in one of her sleeves. "I think so..." She turned to Elsword and he nodded to her quickly.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Let's keep going."

With everyone gathered together, Elsword and Aisha headed to the front of the group and marched down the weathered road, following the path of a forgotten funeral procession and its memory beaten into the ground by the final steps of the ancient nasod. Only moments after they set out, Eve paused and knelt beside one of the broken machines that had attacked them, a faint glow pulsing from within its shattered chest.

"Wait..." She reached down as Moby and Remy flew forward and pushed aside a mass of twisted metal, revealing a small, shining core. Eve stared intently, her eyes widening as she stretched her fingers out and just barely brushed the side of the shimmering, silvery sphere. As everyone stood watching, Rena walked back to Eve and leaned over her shoulder.

"Did you find something?"

Eve didn't answer. With her eyes fixed on the glowing core, she reached forward and wrapped her hands around it gently, slowly pulling it from its previous owner and cradling it carefully against her chest.

"This... is the heart of a nasod." A dim, sullen shadow fell across her face as she stared down at the faintly pulsing heart in her hands.

Raven and Elsword simply stared in confusion while Aisha recoiled slightly at the thought that Eve had just reached into a dead body and yanked out its still-beating heart.

"Hm... so, is that like your power supply?" Rena knelt down beside Eve and tilted her head slightly. Closing her eyes for a moment, Eve rose to her feet and confined the heart to her pocket.

"No, not exactly. Nasod require the energy of El to live, but the heart allows us to transform the light of El into electricity, which is a far more convenient energy source..." Her voice trailed off into the wind as she turned aside to another fallen nasod and searching for the heart within its battered shell. With his mouth wrinkled up awkwardly, Elsword's eyes narrowed and he stared skeptically.

"I get that part, but why are you reaching in and diggin' 'em out? It's kind of creepy..."

"Elsword!" Aisha huffed and glared at him harshly, though she agreed with him completely. Taking a second heart in hand, Eve moved promptly to the next nasod and sifted through its innards, a subtle, disheartening distress falling across her face.

"Every heart is born of the Core and must return to the Core so that new nasod can be born..." Eve reached down into her pocket to place a third heart only to find that there was no space left on her person. Moving quickly, she began piling hearts in her arms as her voice began to waver. "When nasod die, we travel here and remove our hearts. The soil here is much like quicksand and the hearts drift down into the earth where they fall back into the Core and are reborn as new nasod. The metal in our bodies is melted down and becomes the material of a new generation... this is the way it has been on Altera since the very first nasod was born, but..." A frail, stinging sorrow hung on the edge of her lips. "...I did not expect that their hearts would be used to power these weapons..."

"Eve..." Rena followed after her as she headed back up the road, scouring the corpses of every weaponized nasod and adding to the overflowing, shimmering heap in her arms. "Eve, I know this is important to you, and I know it isn't easy, but we don't have any way to carry all of those with us... We'll have to come back for them later."

"I-" Eve turned back to answer her and hesitated, suddenly aware of the weight of a dozen hearts pulsing softly in her arms. "...You are correct. I will create a cache and retrieve them later..." Kneeling slowly to the ground, Eve carefully gathered the hearts she had collected into a shaded corner, covering them with a small steel panel and marking their location in her console. After a moment's pause, she joined the others and marched down the road, toward the next pack of wandering, wounded weapons that bore the hearts of the nasod. After every skirmish, Eve busied herself removing every heart she could find and hiding them away at the edge of the road or within a small hollow. With every mile they tread, her eyes gleamed with a keen, unerring determination. Eventually, the wall of mangled metal corpses receded as they neared the end of the return plains. Along the side of the road, a gradual slope and a single, silent, hulking nasod stood with its empty eyes fixed on the setting sun. Approaching cautiously, Eve ducked beneath the creature's gigantic drill and peered into is chest.

By now, everyone else had fallen into a familiar pattern of waiting patiently for Eve while they kept quiet and looked aside. Although Eve had never told them anything of the sort, they couldn't help but feel that she was retrieving the souls of the dead, and even Elsword didn't dare interrupt something so somber. As soon as Eve reached within the rusted, moss-covered giant, a low, unsettling rumble filled the air. Startled, Eve looked up just in time to see the point of a roaring drill barreling down toward her. Kicking off of the ground, she flew backward and landed in the midst of her companions as the giant drill bored deep into the earth, leaving a gaping void behind where Eve had stood a second earlier.

"Are you okay!?" Rena rushed to Eve's side and fired off a volley at the massive nasod, each arrow glancing off of its heavy armor and leaving scarcely a scratch.

"I am fine, but the heart-"

"Don't worry, I won't cut it." Raven dashed forward and slashed furiously at the pistons and wires attached to the whirling drill, causing it to spark and sputter as smoke filled the air. Just as Raven turned toward the nasod itself, a huge, jagged fist hurtled through the air at him. He raised his sword and, though he blocked the blow cleanly, he felt his feet rise from the ground and soon he was tumbling backward through the air, falling helplessly until Rena leapt forward and caught him. While they recovered, Aisha and Elsword scowled fiercely and readied their weapons. The moment they charged forward, a long, wide cannon mounted on their opponent's back began to glow and they quickly turned back, grabbing Rena, Raven, and Eve and ducking to the ground. A single second collapsed into a brief eternity and all sound faded into a shrill ringing as the sky overhead erupted in a violent burst of ash and fire. Rolling back onto her heels, Rena fired off a single, heavy shot into the side of the cannon's barrel, sending it spinning around and sticking as it faced away from them. While the nasod struggled to turn its cannon back toward them, Rena turned aside to Eve.

"Is there any way to stop that thing without damaging the heart?"

Eve shook her head swiftly. "Do not worry about that. It is nearly impossible to damage a nasod heart. One moment, I will scan it for weaknesses."

"Hmph." Aisha scoffed and gritted her teeth, glancing aside at Elsword. He nodded firmly and they knocked their knuckles together, a wild flame sprouting in their hands. While Raven stood on guard and Eve worked busily at her console, Elsword and Aisha charged forward defiantly.

"Wait! Don't-" Rena stood and called out after them, but by the time she did they were already standing before the giant nasod. As Elsword raised his sword to strike, the nasod swung its broken drill out and slid beneath it, just as Aisha teleported around to the nasod's rear. In less than a second, they were both standing beneath the belly of a rumbling, rusted metal beast. Elsword glanced aside at Aisha and they grinned deviously at one another, clenching their fists tightly and thrusting their hands into the nasod's undercarriage. As a small, swirling mass of flame crackled and roared, Aisha and Elsword dashed out into the open and rolled away just as the ground split open and a thunderous pillar of flame shot into the sky, spreading out in every direction and completely engulfing the giant nasod. As the conflagration spread out toward them, Elsword and Aisha turned and raised their hands, confining their spell by force as the whirling torrent of fire soared into the sky. After several seconds, the flames finally faded, leaving behind only a large, charred patch of earth in their wake. A few moments later, a small, silvery sphere whistled through the air and fell to the ground at Eve's feet. Huffing and panting proudly, Elsword and Aisha stared off into the horizon and began laughing carelessly.

"Ha! Stupid machine. That was way too easy." Elsword crossed his arms and grinned as Aisha glanced aside at him and echoed his sentiment.

"If every one of them is this weak, we'll have the El back by tomorrow morning."

"Yeah, just like-" Elsword's knees began to wobble and he suddenly lost the feeling in his feet, falling over onto Aisha. "Oof..."

"Gah! Elsword, get off me!" Aisha blushed and tried to push him away, only to find that she could scarcely raise her arms. "Ah... crap... we used... way too much... all at once..." Within a second, she collapsed against him and the two were sprawled out on the ground on top of one another.

"Hey! Get off! You're way too heavy!" Elsword grumbled as he struggled to push himself away and failed miserably. Aisha shot him a vicious, bitter glare.

"What was that!?"

Standing and staring at them, Raven and Eve had no words that could capture their shock. Beside them, Rena nearly doubled over giggling, finally gathering herself just enough to sigh fondly and give a bright, reckless smile.

"Well, I suppose we should set up camp here for the night then."


	28. The Shelter of Night

The Shelter of Night

* * *

The smooth velvet curtain of night fell softly over Altera, submerging the island in a sea of stars as a faint campfire flickered on the plains. Having taken a full three hours to recover from their exhaustion, Elsword and Aisha grumbled as they finished off their dinner, sitting as far away from one another as possible and scowling bitterly.

"Hey, are you still not talking to us?" Rena leaned forward and peered over at Aisha, trying to meet her eyes and having little success.

"No." Aisha took a swig of water and glanced away. "You could've at least pulled us apart instead of leaving me laying next to him and laughing at us the whole time."

"Ah, sorry..." Rena smiled brightly and without a mote of remorse in her voice. "I heard somewhere that it's dangerous to move people when they pass out like that, that's all~"

Aisha glared at her skeptically. "Really? That doesn't sound right at all..."

"Of course it's right." Rena glanced aside, avoiding Aisha's gaze, "It's ancient Elven medical advice."

"Hm..." Aisha was not convinced. Still, she was more upset that she'd had to pass out next to Elsword in the first place, so Rena's teasing seemed a minor inconvenience by comparison.

"Well, I'm off to bed then. Goodnight everyone!" Rena hopped to her feet and unrolled her sleeping bag, laying down just beyond the firelight and bundling herself up tightly against the cold. As she left, Raven furrowed his brow in confusion.

"Does she always rush off to sleep like that?"

Elsword nodded. "Yeah, pretty much every time." He shoveled a handful of applebread into his mouth and pushed himself up to his feet, taking his sword in hand and turning toward the empty plains. "I'm gonna go practice for a while." Unconsciously, he glanced aside to Aisha who promptly scoffed and tore off a chunk of jerky with her teeth.

Sensing their obvious agitation with one another, Raven smiled faintly and nodded. "Alright. Be careful."

Elsword nodded and marched off into the dark. Across the campfire, Aisha watched as Eve busied herself with a pile of scrap metal and spare parts, carefully piecing together the remnants of nasod weapons into a pair of electrified lances. With his dinner finished and sleep still far from his eyes, Raven rose to his feet and headed off silently into the shadows.

* * *

A mist of silvery sweat shimmered in the moonlight as Elsword thrust his blade at an invisible foe, spinning quickly and slashing across the horizon and thrusting his free hand forward to deliver a small gasp of flame. As his sword swung around to his side, he felt his balance wavering and he shifted his feet back, scowling and clenching his fists.

"Damn it... still too slow..."

"You aren't used to using just one hand, are you?"

Elsword turned back abruptly and saw Raven standing just a few yards away, half covered in a soft shadow as the moonlight gleamed off of his left arm. As he stepped out into the open, Elsword turned away and grimaced.

"I know what I'm doing."

Raven crossed his arms and glared firmly. "That's obvious. You wouldn't have made it this far if you didn't."

Ignoring him, Elsword returned to his drills and resumed his broad, unbalanced strikes, panting as he struggled to cover the openings in his defense with a quick burst of flame. Still unsteady from his earlier exhaustion, he was accomplishing little more than wearing himself ragged. Impressed by the sheer tenacity of his efforts, Raven smiled faintly and approached.

"...Practice alone isn't anywhere near as good as sparring." Raven drew his sword and tilted it toward the ground. Pausing for a moment to catch his breath, Elsword glanced down at Raven's blade and grinned.

"Heh... fine, but you're gonna get hurt if you use somethin' that small."

Raven glared, his gaze a mix of stern conviction and deference as he lifted his sword. "Only if I stand still for ten minutes."

Still grinning, Elsword swung down strongly and Raven blocked his blow with the middle of his blade, giving only an inch as Elsword pulled his blade back and thrust it forward. In a single motion, Raven stepped aside and swept his sword across the ground, striking out at Elsword's feet and forcing him to jump back into a defensive stance. Shifting the momentum of his blade fluidly from one strike to the next, Raven kept Elsword on guard as the sharp ring of steel clashing against steel fell across the plains like the clattering of hail. Bending his knees and tightening his grip, Elsword swung out and cast Raven's blade aside, leaping back in an attempt to regain his composure.

"You're right handed, aren't you?" Raven stared down at Elsword's blade, trembling slightly as it hung in his left hand. Staring blankly, Elsword's mouth shifted to the side in confusion.

"Yeah, so?"

Raven turned his wrist lightly and relaxed his right arm. "It's throwing you off balance. When you swing with your right, you've got too much power behind it, and your left isn't strong enough to use the blade quickly. If you train with your left side instead of the right, you won't fall off balance so easily."

Elsword grimaced, but he said nothing. Mostly because he knew that Raven was right. Digging his feet into the ground, he rushed forward, slashing broadly with both hands as Raven just barely blocked the immense weight of his blade. Sliding around behind, Elsword spun on his feet and delivered a firm overhead strike, only to find Raven ready to parry the blow handily. Seizing his only option for a counterattack, Elsword pulled his left hand away and thrust it forward, punching Raven firmly in the gut. At that moment, however, Raven didn't double over and instead reached forward with his left arm and grabbed Elsword's weapon, yanking it away swiftly and leaving him unarmed. Very quickly, his mood darkened.

"What the hell... if we were fighting for real you'd be dead already."

Raven released Elsword's blade and stepped aside, returning his sword to its sheath. "Not if I were a nasod. We're not fighting humans here."

"So?" Elsword retrieved his blade and rolled his shoulders. "I'dve gotten you anyway."

"That's not the point." Raven's eyes glistened fiercely as he glared at Elsword. "We're not fighting just to kill our enemies. Staying alive here... That's the most important thing."

"Heh..." Elsword leaned over on his sword as sweat dripped from the tips of his hair.

"Hm?"

"Nah... I just didn't expect to hear that from somebody like you."

Raven smiled weakly and closed his eyes as he recalled how brash and destructive he had been when Elsword had first met him. After a moment's rest, Elsword sat back on the soft, feathery grass and dropped his elbows onto his knees. After a few seconds, Raven walked over and joined him. Staring out at the shimmering river running through the night sky, the two swordsman sat quietly as the cool sea breeze washed across their faces.

"You're stronger than I expected, especially for your age." Raven gazed aimlessly at the swarms of fireflies fixed along the veil of night. Beside him, Elsword simply nodded.

"I'm a knight after all. I gotta be this strong or I'd just be some kid with a sword." He stretched his neck out to the side and then dropped his head back against his shoulders again. "You're still way stronger though. Nobody's ever blocked me like that with anything that light."

Chuckling lightly, Raven smiled to himself as a shooting star sailed over the edge of the sea. "I doubt that..."

A deep, weary yawn escaped Elsword's throat and he shook his head out sharply. "Damn, I'm still tired from before."

Raven glanced over his shoulder and nodded. "The fire's died down. It looks like Eve and Aisha are already asleep."

Climbing up to his feet and brushing himself off, Elsword hefted his sword onto his shoulders and turned back toward the campsite. "Alright, I'm gonna try and sleep too. G'night." He walked off slowly, wiping the sweat from his face and arms with a coarse rag as he plodded back toward his bedroll. Halfway there, he paused and glanced back over his shoulders.

"Hey... you wanna spar again tomorrow? It's better than swingin' at nothing."

"Yeah." Raven looked over at him and Elsword nodded, turning away and heading off to sleep. Raven felt the ache of his feet and the weight of weariness falling over him as well, but he decided to stay in the crisp glow of the moonlight, staring up at the stars. For at least a few more minutes, he wanted to enjoy the strange, unexpected, nostalgic feeling that was welling up in his chest, something that he hadn't felt for so long that he couldn't rightly remember just what it was at first. As the chill winter wind brushed the sweat from his brow, Raven suddenly realized why the feeling was so familiar and he chuckled to himself.

_ So that's what it is..._

* * *

Raven awoke to the sound of a soft whisper of the wind rattling in his ears, the veil of night still settled firmly over his shoulders as he shook his head out and looked around.

_Damn... must've fallen asleep on the plains..._

With the moon sinking slowly into the sea, he stood up, patted himself down to inventory his belongings, and headed back toward the campsite. In the dim haze of fading moonlight, finding his way was more a matter of luck than navigation and he tripped over several small, solid, slightly painful things on his way back. One particular unseen object, far larger and more painful than the others, caught him in the shin and he looked down to scowl at it, only to realize that he couldn't even see his feet. He was caught by surprise, then, when in the black morass of the midnight air he saw a shimmering stream of gold dancing in the breeze.

Sitting atop the bones of a long-dead metal beast, Rena stared out across the rippling fields of wheatgrass and reeds as he hair scattered in the wind. Once she caught sight of Raven, she waved softly and smiled. She turned back toward the stars and started to speak, though the wind stole her voice from the air before it could reach Raven's ears. With his head clear and sleep retreating from him, Raven headed over to Rena's post and climbed up alongside her.

"Can't sleep?" Her words poured into the night in a cloud of mist, their gentle timbre vanishing in an instant and leaving behind only a faint, lingering warmth. Settling in on her left, Raven raised his head and studied the invisible threads that bound the stars together.

"Maybe. It'd help if I tried laying down and using a blanket though."

Rena giggled, lightly and gently as the hours weighed down her eyelids. "Yes, that's normally how it's done."

"What about you?" Raven turned aside and searched Rena's face, taking note of the red in her eyes and her weary smile.

"Oh, me? Yeah, I have trouble sleeping sometimes..."

Raven looked back out across the plains, surveying the sea of shadows before them. "...Have you been doing this all along? Sleeping for a few hours and then standing watch all night long?"

Rena blinked. "Ah... I've been found out..." She stretched her arms out behind her head as a deep yawn billowed out from her lips. "I was kind of hoping you wouldn't notice, though I should've known better than to expect that."

Breathing in slowly, Raven closed his eyes for a moment and glanced back toward Rena. "Why haven't you just told them about it? They'd gladly stand watch for you, and it'd be better than being sleep deprived every time you're on the road."

"I know..." Rena leaned back on her hands and stared up at a bright, gleaming streak of light, the trail of a falling star drifting toward the sea. "But, that's why I don't want to tell them. Somebody has to stand guard at night, in case something happens, but they're both pretty new to traveling like this, so they don't always think about those things. If they knew, they'd definitely try to take turns standing watch and they'd tell me that I should get some sleep... I'm being just a little bit selfish though. Elsword and Aisha, they're both pretty impressive for their age, and Eve... well, I don't know if she even actually needs to sleep, but she's been through a lot, and it's only going to get harder for her. They're all so determined though, you know?" Fond laughter escaped her lips and she leaned forward, wrapping her arms around herself to guard against the cold. "At first, I thought I needed to protect them, but pretty soon they were the ones protecting me, and I probably don't even deserve it, but... something about them..." Rena dropped her head and gave a wry smile. "Well, now I'm just rambling."

A quiet, coarse laugh wafted past her ears and she turned to her side. Subtle and slightly awkward, as though he had been out of practice, Raven was smiling kindly, or at least as kindly as he could manage. Even though she knew it shouldn't be something so shocking, Rena was stunned.

"No, you're right. I haven't known them for very long, but I get the same feeling. They're young, but they're already better fighters than I ever was at that age. Heh..." Raven stared down at his feet. "Makes me feel older just talking about it."

"Oh really now?" Rena giggled softly. "You know, compared to me, you still count as one of those 'young people'."

It took a few seconds for Raven's sleep-addled brain to make the necessary connections and when it did, he reflexively looked over at Rena and stared at her face for a moment before averting his eyes. "Ah, right. I keep forgetting about that. You just look so-" He stopped himself, not confident that he was conscious enough to keep himself from saying something stupid. Instead, he forced a cough and hoped that Rena wouldn't notice his hastily abandoned sentence. He wasn't that lucky.

"Did you just pretend to cough to get out of finishing that line?" Rena laughed heartily, her smile spreading out into a devious grin. "What exactly where you going to say there?"

"I-" Raven fumbled around for words, quickly gathering himself and regaining his composure. "You don't look like you've lived for a hundred years." A firmly diplomatic response, though in this case, Raven was actually aiming at a much deeper target.

"Oh?" Rena turned back toward the stars but kept her eyes fixed on Raven. "What makes you say that?"

Quietly, Raven traced the lines of light streaming through the sky as he recalled his own history. "You've been fighting for so long, but you don't seem to have any scars. You smile like it's easy, but if you've been a soldier for as long as I think you have, there's gotta be a lot weighing on you."

"..." Rena's eyes drifted down to the horizon and she breathed in deeply. "You know, if you keep cutting straight to the point like that, it'll be hard for me to keep avoiding that sort of thing... but, you're right on one part... I have been fighting for a long, long time..."

A cool, reminiscent mist fell across Rena's face, opening a hundred windows onto the days of her memory. After spending a short time in the realm of nostalgia, she perked up and beamed brightly at the deep blue ocean overhead. "Ah~ This star shower's been lasting a long time. It's been a while since I saw one this big."

"Yeah." Raven nodded. Soon, he was smiling once again, watching silently as the sky above ignited in a flurry of cascading light. Despite the scarcity of the sight above, Rena found herself drawn to the equally rare sight just to her left, glancing aside at Raven's warm expression and only stealing an occasional glimpse at the stars above. Within a few minutes, the hail of shimmering stars faded into the darkened sky and Raven rose to his feet.

"Go on. I'll stand watch here for the next few hours, you should get some sleep."

Rena blinked the sleep from her eyes and smiled. "Yeah, you're probably right. I've been so sleepy I just started rambling on."

Raven grinned. "If you want, I won't mention it to Elsword and Aisha, but from now on, we'll take turns standing guard."

"Ah~ I knew you'd say that." Rena sighed lightly. "I probably should have asked you about it sooner though. Thanks, and Goodnight." Hopping up to her feet, Rena jumped down to the ground and headed back toward the campsite, wrapping herself in her blankets and curling up in her sleeping bag. Keeping his eyes fixed on the plains around them and watching for any sign of movement, Raven found himself strangely at ease. Normally, standing guard was a slow, arduous chore that dragged out every minute to the length of ten, but tonight, he felt lighter, somehow. With the moon tucking itself beneath a blanket of waves, Raven looked back over the campsite and smiled.

_Comrades, huh? It's been a while..._

* * *

The cool winter night on Altera passed slowly, nipping at Aisha's nose as she buried her head deeper into her pillow. Drifting deeper into sleep, she sighed heavily and wrapped her blankets tightly around her shoulders...

Aisha opened her eyes to the sound of a soft moan and a comforting heat against her chest. As her consciousness wavered, she raised her head and looked around. Instead of the soft grassy ground, she was laying on the softest bed she'd ever slept in. Rather than the sky and the sea, she was surrounded by lavish silk sheets and a large room filled with the faint shadows of hand-carved furniture.

_What happened? ...Where am I? Oh, right... Velder... I'm in my room in Velder..._ Aisha sat up and yawned, stretching her back and pulling the strap of her camisole back onto her shoulder. As she glanced down at herself, she paused, suddenly confused. _Wait... was I always this tall? And my hair..._She reached up and felt the ribbons that held her hair in two ruffled bunches. _Oh, right... I must've left the ties in._ She pulled carelessly at her hair and released it from its bonds, sending it spilling over her shoulders as she flopped back against the bed. Next to her, the sheets began to stir and rumple up, revealing a boy's broad, bare shoulders.

_Who... Ah, Elsword... hehehe..._Aisha rolled over and pounced, wrapping her arms around Elsword and pulled him toward her. _...This... wait a second... I thought... isn't Elsword supposed to be shorter... and... his hair's different... what..._ Aisha's thoughts were a muddled mess, as though she couldn't remember just what was going on around her. Within a second, however, her questions faded away and the scene around her seemed to make perfect sense.

"Mmnn... go back to sleep..." Elsword grumbled, his voice deeper than Aisha recalled. Still, she felt completely at ease, somehow, and a broad grin spread across her face.

"No way. You can't just sneak into a lady's room and then expect to get off that easily. Come on, tell me what's wrong." She slid her hands across his arm and shook him gently. Annoyed, Elsword grunted quietly and pulled away.

"I just felt like it... I didn't want to sleep alone, okay?" He sat upright, letting the sheets fall to his side as he slumped forward and rubbed his eyes. Pushing herself up and resting her head on his shoulder, Aisha breathed out sharply across his neck.

"Hey, what's wrong? You haven't been this grumpy for years now..."

Elsword glanced aside, avoiding her eyes and staying silent.

"Hey, Elsword... tell me-" Just as Aisha repeated her concerns, he turned and wrapped her in a desperate embrace, his hands trembling slightly as he held her against his chest. Blushing fiercely, Aisha's eyes went wide and she stumbled around aimlessly for her words. "W-What- Is- Is everything okay...?"

"Like hell it's okay!" Elsword buried his face in Aisha's shoulder, gritting his teeth as his heartbeat became so loud that Aisha could feel it against her own. "You can't keep getting hurt like you did today! I don't-" His voice caught in his throat, unable to release the rest of his plea. As he held her tightly, Aisha was suddenly aware of a dull ache in her legs.

_Hurt...? I was... Oh, right... I got hurt fighting the demons in Feita today..._ A gentle sigh spilled from her lips and she leaned forward, locking her hands together around Elsword's waist. "You don't have to worry about me like that... I'm strong enough to take care of myself."

"I know. I know, but..." Elsword scowled and squeezed Aisha firmly. "Damn it... It's not supposed to hurt this much, just to see somebody else get hurt..."

"Elsword..." A bright, fiery warmth spread through Aisha's chest and up through her spine, making her head swim and her heart race. _Was he always this cool? I can't... yeah... he's definitely, always..._ She smiled to herself. _Alright... I guess I have made him worry a lot... _Pulling back slightly, she pressed her forehead against his and stared straight at him. "Hey, hold your hands up for a second."

"Huh...?" Elsword released Aisha and held his hands up at his side. "Like this? What for?"

Aisha grinned playfully. "Hehehe... gotcha." She grabbed his arms and pushed him down onto the bed, hopping on top of him and pinning him in place.

"A-Aisha, what are you doing!?" Elsword blushed and choked up, though he offered no resistance.

"This is revenge, obviously." Aisha leaned down, her face hovering just an inch above his. "For the last time, when you caught me off guard." She breathed softly and slowly, delicately pressed her lips against his.

Bolting upright, Aisha huffed and panted heavily, her face covered in a cold sweat. The crisp, chill air around her brought her to her senses immediately as she looked around frantically. "What... where..." Her breath billowed out as steam in the early morning twilight and the smooth outline of Altera's grassy plains stretched out before her. After her initial shock and panic subsided, the memories of her dream came flooding back to her, right up until the very last moment when she woke up. To say that she was mortified would be a subtle understatement. Shaking her head violently in the hope that it would erase her memory, she tried her best to shift her thoughts onto something else, anything else, and met with no success.

_Never... that will never, never, Never happen! He will never be that mature, and we would never- _The very thought of finishing that sentence made Aisha cringe. _Never!_

"Aisha. Are you alright?" Beside her, Eve sat up quickly and turned toward her. "You have been making strange noises in your sleep for some time now. Is this normal for humans?"

"No! It's-" She shut her eyes tightly and pressed her palms into her forehead, breathing slowly and finally calming herself down a bit. "Sorry... I just had a nightmare."

Eve nodded. "That is common in situations of high anxiety. Dreams are most likely reflections of leftover thoughts and data from your waking hours."

"Wait, no, no no no no no, that's definitely not it." Aisha waved her hands and shook her head. "And wait, how would you know about dreams?"

Eve pulled off her blankets and fluffed her pillow. "In the ancient empire, even the nasod performed research on dreaming. It happens only rarely among advanced nasod, but we were able to establish a few general theories. Dreams that appear to be nonsensical are compressions of data leftover from your thoughts and memories from the recent past. Premonitions are actually an advanced form of calculation in which the brain attempts to construct a logical future scenario based on information at hand. Even among humans, this type of calculation has been recorded as at least ninety percent accurate at up to eight years." Eve continued talking for a bit longer, bringing up a copy of the nasod dream research documents on her console for Aisha to see. Unfortunately, Aisha was far too distracted to pay any attention.

_Predicting the future that accurately... No, no, no no no, it was just a meaningless, awkward nightmare... I used to have them all the time when I was a kid, it's just like that, it's just like-_

"Aisha. Your temperature seems to be rising. Are you feeling feverish?" Eve looked over Aisha's bright red cheeks and saw the sweat dripping from her bangs. Understanding the fragile nature of human bodies, she opened her tool box and retrieved a small, round device and held it out toward Aisha. "Please remain still while I run a few diagnostics."

"What? No, I'm fine!" Aisha forced a rigid smile and scooted away, staring uncomfortably at the strange lump of metal and plastic resting in Eve's hands. "I'm completely healthy, I promise."

"I see. Very well." Eve returned the device to her pack and began working on her console, trying very hard to pretend that she wasn't stealing the occasional glance back at Aisha to check up on her.

Thoroughly unsettled, Aisha dragged herself through her morning routine with an awkward, wrinkled up smile that very badly wanted to become a bitter frown. Rolling up her blankets and shoving them clumsily into a satchel along with her books, she began to huff and fume at nothing in particular when she stopped abruptly and blinked. A spark of curiosity had flickered through her thoughts, interrupting her panic and denial over her dream and focusing her energy on a much more puzzling question.

_Wait... why would the Nasod know about nightmares...?_


	29. Silence

Silence

* * *

_Author's Warning: Well, first, Thank you all so much for reading and your continued support! It really does mean a lot to me, especially since this is such a long project. Anyway, I thought I should warn you all, this is sort of a scary-type chapter... I have no idea if it's actually something that you would find scary since I wrote it and I'm a bad judge of that sort of thing, but just in case, you have been warned. It's also the longest chapter to date, so, duly warned. Anyway, Please enjoy!_

* * *

A shower of sparks erupted from the broken neck of an assault model nasod as its head tumbled into a patch of crackling, withered reeds. Landing easily on her feet after delivering a brutal roundhouse, Rena held her stance and kept her eyes fixed on the nasod's body as it groaned and slowly fell to its knees. After confirming its death with an arrow through the gut, Rena turned round to her right and raised her hand, waving briskly.

"Eve! There's another three over here!"

With the morning sun peering out from over her shoulders, Eve glided over the Rena's side, kneeling down and thrusting her hands into the headless nasod and extracting its heart. While she worked, Rena searched the ground for her bandolier, finding it buried in the undergrowth where she had tussled with a pair of nasod during the most recent ambush.

"Ah~ The buckle's broken off..." She held a tattered leather strap between her fingers and sighed. "I really liked this bandolier too..." Disheartened, she pulled a small metal clamp from her pack and bound the two ends of her bandolier together before slinging it back over her shoulders. The morning hadn't started in a particularly peaceful manner; After Aisha's nervous panic had subsided, they set off across the plains only to find a roaming nasod patrol laying in wait for them. Even though no one was injured and they were able to deal with their attackers in a matter of seconds, the ambush had set everyone on edge and put them on their guard. Starting the day with a full course of Adrenaline was unsettling to say the least, and Rena got the feeling that the coming hours would be some of the longest and most nerve-wracking of their journey thus far. They were rapidly approaching "enemy territory" as Eve had termed it, and as a means of avoiding the legions of weaponized nasod on the plains and to generally save time, they had made the decision to head through an old transporting tunnel that cut across the edge of the island. So far, everything had gone remarkably well, and that impossible good fortune was more than enough to make Rena anxious. Once Eve had stored the last of the pulsing hearts in a small hollow, Rena headed over to join her.

"Eve, do you remember when you said that you might have an idea about who was manufacturing the nasod for combat?"

Silence.

"...Yes." Eve stood against the bitter wind, the fiery glow of the sunrise gleaming in her golden eyes. "I am fairly certain now... perhaps..." Her voice trailed off into the breeze, stolen away by a sharp, sudden chill. "...I will explain once we return to the others."

Rena opened her mouth briefly but held her questions for the moment. Smiling softly, she nodded and looked across the field toward the outlines of Raven, Aisha, and Elsword.

"It's okay, if you don't want to talk about it. It doesn't really matter who's responsible, after all. What's important is getting the El back and stopping them from making more weapons, right?"

"That-" Eve paused, a vague distress falling across her face. "...No. I will explain everything. It may be necessary for everyone to know, in the event that I am unable to continue..."

"Continue? What do you-" Realizing what Eve meant, Rena frowned gently and poked Eve in the forehead. "Talking like that isn't allowed, okay? If you're going into a dangerous situation, you need to have a really strong will to live, especially if you're going to rebuild an entire empire on your own." She smiled and winked at Eve, leaving her more than a little flustered.

"Y-you are correct... perhaps..."

Giggling, Rena placed her hand on Eve's shoulder and gave her a gentle smile. "Come on, let's get back to the others."

"Yes..."

A strong gust whipped across Rena's back as she accompanied Eve back to where everyone waited for them. Far behind them, beyond the shore and above the sea, a dark, rumbling tide of swirling storm clouds spilled across the sky, the thick fog of hail and lightning spreading through the air as though it sought to engulf Altera in its ravenous maw. At best, they had a few hours before the storm was upon them. Acknowledging the need for haste, Eve led the way toward the transporting tunnel as soon as everyone had gathered together.

"We should be able to avoid the storm in the tunnel as well. It will probably be our last chance to rest as well, since there will likely be a larger concentration of activity as we approach the Core."

Raven glanced aside as they marched down a long, gradual slope. "Are you sure they're not guarding the tunnel too?"

Eve kept her eyes forward and leveled off her voice. "I cannot be certain." She paused, tapping her foot into the ground for a moment before righting herself and returning to her original pace. "However, I do not think the one responsible for this would see any value in guarding it."

"Have you figured out who it is then?" Aisha sent her question out to Eve, but kept her eyes turned toward the shoreline and the oncoming storm. As the sound of their feet landing across the crisp, brittle reeds chased away the silence, Eve steeled herself and turned back to face the others.

"It... most likely, is at least partly my fault." She tried to meet everyone's eyes, but she found her own unwilling and eager to avoid their gazes. Most of all, she couldn't bring herself to look at Raven, who stared suspiciously as he awaited her explanation. Raising her face, she pushed aside the erratic tangle of her thoughts and continued.

"In the process of restarting the Core, I found that it could not support prolonged or complex routines without frequent maintenance and supervision. In other words, I had to appoint a successor, since my body would be used as the point of conversion for El energy flowing into the Core. While I was asleep, he would have been the only one who could have tampered with the Core and altered its programming..."

"If you created this guy before you went to sleep then, why did he suddenly start making weapons?" Raven stared harshly, his voice wavering as he restrained himself and tried to keep his bitterness at bay. After a moment, his eyes softened and he breathed out slowly as the sting of his wounds faded.

Unconsciously, Eve reached across her stomach and held her right arm with her left hand. "Most likely, I made a mistake when I programmed him... or perhaps someone interfered and altered his programming afterwards. I cannot be certain. Regardless, if he is to blame for this, then I-" Eve's voice caught in her throat as guilt and anxiety filled her eyes. Before she was able to complete the indictment against herself, an unexpected relief issued out into the sharp, frigid breeze.

"So?" Elsword gave a stern yet reassuring glare. "It's not your fault if your kid's acting like a stupid brat."

Aisha and Eve both turned to him and stared, confounded.

"My... child?" Eve's concentration shattered and she lost herself in thought, staring off into the distance.

"I don't think that's really how it is..." Aisha glared awkwardly at Elsword. "She's way too young to have children, you're reading way too much into- Ah, look, you broke her!" Aisha waved her hand in front of Eve's face rapidly, hoping to elicit some sort of response. At the same time, Raven walked over to Eve and stared straight through to the back of her eyes.

"It doesn't matter how you put it, child or creation or machine or whatever." His eyes narrowed and his brow hardened as Eve broke free from her distraction and met his gaze. "If you're right, then in the end, we'll have to face him. Are you alright with that, even if it means we might have to kill him."

Elsword and Aisha stopped their bickering, stifled by the oppressive atmosphere of Raven's gaze. Despite the gravity facing her, however, Eve answered promptly, her voice free of any doubt. "Of course. I will end this without hesitation."

Raven nodded, walking past her and continuing down the hill and toward the large steel door buried in the side of the earth just a hundred yards away. Calling after him to wait, Elsword and Aisha followed along quickly, leaving Rena and Eve to bring up the rear. As they continued their march down into the shadow of the small, artificial valley surrounding the tunnel entrance, Rena slowed herself to match Eve's pace and stole a glance at her.

"Are you really sure? If it turns out that your successor is the one who made the nasod into weapons, I mean. Are you really sure you'd want to kill him?"

"If he can be salvaged, then it may be avoidable..." Eve opened her console as they approached the tunnel doors and typed out a string of commands as she walked. "However, if he was not tampered with, and if there is no error in his code... then he has willingly disgraced every nasod that has ever lived, and for that alone I would never forgive him."

Rena smiled faintly, an errant concern lingering in the back of her mind. "Hopefully it won't come to that then..."

As everyone waited anxiously, Eve slowly coaxed the doors to the tunnel open. Their thick, rusted surface groaned and shrieked as an ancient engine growled and hissed, peeling the thick, blunted teeth of the gateway apart and revealing the thick fog of darkness that lay beyond. A sudden screech filled the air as the doors lurched apart and the engine driving them seized up, causing Aisha to jump and Elsword to wince at the grating noise. Warm, moist air poured out of the narrow opening, carrying with it the subtle scent of rust and clay from the depths of the underground. Despite the warm, inviting breeze, an eerie chill ran down Aisha's spine and wrapped around he neck.

"Busted?" Elsword kicked the doors and scowled. "Whatever. Let's just get going before the storm gets here."

One by one, all in a row, Elsword, Raven, Rena, and Eve filed into gaping jaws of the transporting tunnel, leaving Aisha alone in the frosted sunlight. Stubbornly, her feet refused to move forward, held back by the invisible ice that had chilled her nerves and clutched her throat. A dull, creeping terror settled in over her, and beyond all explanation she soon found that her very next step, just a few feet from the daylight into the shadows, was the most frightening step of her life. Before anyone could turn back and urge her onward, she clenched her jaw and pulled her feet from the ground, dragging herself into the tunnel and forsaking the safety of the plains. If only she hadn't been so brave, then perhaps their expedition into Altera's long forgotten underground might not have ended in such abject horror.

The damp, musty air clung to Aisha's skin as she stepped onto the stone floor of the transporting tunnel. Hurrying to catch up to everyone else, she lost her footing and slipped, falling flat against Elsword's back.

"Oof- Hey!" Elsword stumbled forward, scowling over his shoulder. "What're you doing?"

Pushing herself away, Aisha felt a strange softness beneath her feet and she looked to the ground. "I tripped on- what the heck is that..." As she raised one foot into the light, a small glob of sickly green slime dripped from her heel and splattered against the cave floor.

"Is everything okay?" Rena turned back toward them and checked Aisha over, grinning slyly to herself. "You know, there's a time and a place for things like that. I know it's dark and all, but this might not be the best place to start pouncing on one another."

"What are you talking about?"

"I didn't do it on purpose!" Both of them blushed, professing their innocence and shouting over top of one another. Experience had taught them, however, that not even a million denials would dissuade Rena and her mischievous grin.

"Oh? Really? Well, the light's pretty dim in here... It kind of looked like pouncing to me~" Rena smiled casually and hummed as she turned back and rejoined Raven and Eve.

"H-Hey, that's not what happened!" Elsword glowered fiercely, turning to Raven in an attempt to appeal to a neutral party. "Raven, you saw right?"

A faint chuckle rang out through the chamber and Raven smiled slightly. "You're putting a lot of energy into denying it. You know how that looks, right?"

"Ugh-" Elsword winced slightly, realizing that he'd come off as more than a little defensive. Beside him, Aisha was fuming and opened her mouth to speak when the dim light peeking in from the plains vanished.

"Wha- Ah, hold on..." Aisha held out her hand and a small, swirling flame gathered in the air overhead. Immediately, everyone turned to face the door, their eyes growing wide as their blood chilled. For a moment, there was only silence. After everyone had taken the time to confirm the sight before them, Raven gave voice to their collective shock.

"How... How the hell..." The doors they had passed through, the very same doors that screeched and groaned so violently, had shut tightly and without a sound.

Eve's fingers raced across her console, typing furiously as she tried to reactivate the tunnel doors. "This should not be possible. The engine burned itself out trying to open the partition. It could not have closed it behind us."

"Well, I'd prefer that explanation to any other..." Rena glanced around warily, drawing her bow and studying the shadows that flickered across the walls. "If it wasn't an accident, then we might not be alone down here..."

All the while, Aisha stood as still as possible, trying desperately to reign in her racing heart. As she spoke, her voice cracked and quivered slightly. "That's not it. It doesn't matter how it closed. Listen."

Eve stopped her fingers and everyone stood, waiting to hear whatever it was that Aisha had noticed. After almost a minute, Elsword crossed his arms and scowled.

"Wait, I don't get it, I don't hear anything..." The moment he spoke, he finally understood what everyone else had realized just seconds before. The doors hadn't closed silently, it was just that their shrieks and moans could never reach into the cavern, and for a very simple reason; within the transporting tunnel, there was no El. Somehow, even though the air outside was brimming with the light of El and the island itself was surrounded for miles, this dark, abandoned passage had been completely forsaken. It was only now, in the dull light of Aisha's fire, that they were each aware of the faint sphere of breathable air that surrounded each of them.

"This isn't right." Rena frowned, moving to the front and facing down the darkness. "With all the stolen El on this island, there's no way this place isn't within its range. Even the deepest tunnels in the village were completely covered in El... something is very wrong here."

"For the time being, it would be best if you all remained within three paces of me." Eve tapped the large El gem embedded in her forehead and it began to glow faintly, spreading its light out for several meters and easily filling the corridor. At the same time, she raised Remy and Moby into the air and they both flickered and flashed, shining brightly and cutting through the shadows with ease. "There appears to be a limited supply of oxygen in this area. Using fire as a light source could make it difficult for you all to breathe."

Aisha drew her hand down and extinguished the glowing flames overhead, her gaze fixed on the writhing shadows ahead. "Let's just get to the other side as quick as we can. I'm starting to wish we'd gone around even if there is an army of nasod up there..."

Wasting no more time on words, Eve set the most direct course available through the tunnel's winding halls and led the way. For nearly an hour, the unnerving warmth of a harsh, acrid breeze brushed against their skin and slithered through their hair. Though the very same question was on everyone's mind, they knew it would do no good to ask why there was a breeze without El, or where it was coming from within a sealed tunnel. They had descended into a world of uncertainty, a groaning chasm in the earth where the silence itself was moving, breathing, and waiting in the shadows. As they traveled deeper into the cavern, every darkened corner seemed to squirm and tremble, finally growing still when the light of the El fell upon it. It wasn't long after that the stinging breeze carried with it a faint green mist.

"I'm going to increase my static field to three meters. It may hurt slightly." Eve threw her hands out to the side and a small pulse of electricity shot through the air, repelling the ghastly cloud that crept toward them. Elsword squinted briefly as the shock passed over his skin and pierced the side of his jaw.

"It's great that we're not breathing whatever the hell that stuff is, but- Ow!" His shoulder twitched as another small jolt arced from his armor and onto his arm. "You got anything less annoying than this?"

"You'll have to bear with it." Raven gripped his sword tightly as a light shock skipped across his hands. "You get used to it after a while."

Hesitating for a moment, Elsword's eyes narrowed and he clenched his fists, casting aside his complaints. Perhaps it was because of how much had happened in the past few days, or perhaps because of how different Raven seemed at present, but Elsword had nearly forgotten the image of Raven laying on the ground, crippled by the agony of a massive, relentless electric shock. Compared to that, he suddenly felt like he had no right to complain about mere discomforts. Rounding the corner ahead, the walls retreated abruptly, revealing a vast, endless abyss of shadows and a treacherously steep pitfall on either side of their narrow path. Steadying his hand against the last inches of the wall, Elsword leaned over and peered into the sea of toxic mist. For one single instant, he would have sworn that there were a pair of eyes glaring back at him, burning brightly in the dark, but once he blinked and looked again, he saw nothing but the veil of pitch and poison that surrounded them. It was in that moment that he slipped. His hand slid across the slick surface of the jagged stone, tearing a gash into his palm as he toppled over into the void below. Time slowed and nearly stopped as everyone turned to see the fading outline of his form falling into the darkness, illuminated only by the tiny El gem wrapped around his wrist. Then, as everyone rushed toward the ledge and Elsword tumbled through the air, the El around him began to shrink, disappearing as though it were being eaten away by a gluttonous beast. Reacting immediately, Aisha swung her wand out and teleported through the air, grabbing Elsword around the waist and teleporting back just as the aura of his El nearly collapsed around him.

"What... What the hell..." Elsword and Aisha sat against the ground, panting as they stared at the ground, eyes wide with disbelief.

"Your hand! Elsword, give me your hand!" Rena rushed over and pulled a vial of spirits from her pack, jerking Elsword's hand from the ground and dousing it thoroughly. He winced as the alcohol stung his skin and washed away the faint black stain from his palm, though a light scratch was the least of anyone's worries now.

"Elsword! You idiot!" Aisha leaned forward and shouted, her composure shattered and her voice desperate. "You almost died! Why were you standing that close to the edge!? Are you trying to get killed!? Idiot!"

Elsword scowled for only a second before he met her eyes. Panic, terror, and a resolve as frail as glass spilled across her face, leaving Elsword breathless and unable to argue against her. Soon, he realized that it wasn't only the strength of her shock that kept him from speaking. The small, shallow cut on his hand began to throb violently and his vision began to fade. When he tried to stand, he fell forward and nearly hit the ground before Aisha and Rena caught him.

"Elsword, are you okay? Answer me!" Rena shook his shoulders and raised him to his feet, holding him upright as she checked his pulse. Slowly, his eyes fluttered open and he rolled his head to the side.

"Unnn... yeah... I'm fin... ugh, god my head hurts..."

"Hey, wake up! You're not allowed to die right after I saved you!" Aisha scowled and fumed while Rena reached back into her bandolier and pulled out a small, delicately folded leaf, holding it up to Elsword's mouth and pressing it against his lips.

"Here, eat this. Come on, you've got to open your mouth."

Still not even half-conscious, Elsword slowly opened his jaw before drifting off again. Rena forced the herbs into his mouth and, after gasping for breath, he finally managed to swallow the bitter medicine.

All the while, Raven and Eve had noticed an equally disturbing development. Looking around quickly, Raven took two paces out from Eve, reaching the furthest extent of their El a full meter earlier than expected. Just as the light around Elsword had faded, the light of Eve's crystal was slowly crumbling around them, dissolved by some unknown agent lingering in the air.

"We don't have long if this keeps up. How far is the exit?"

Eve raised her console and checked their position. "Within eight minutes, if we run. However, based on the deterioration of the El, we have only two and a half minutes left. For the time being I will-" A spark of inspiration interrupted Eve's explanation and she turned back to Aisha who was busy bandaging Elsword's hand.

"Aisha, burn the air around us! Quickly!"

Already beyond hesitation and questioning, Aisha tied off Elsword's bandage and thrust her wand into the air overhead, igniting the edges of their shrinking sphere of breathable air. Almost instantly, the light of the El grew and spread out in every direction. It was a small victory, but with their lives now in clear, apparent danger, it was the most significant victory they'd had in weeks. Dragging Elsword along, Aisha and Rena huddled around Eve as they regrouped and took a moment to rest.

"That stuff... it's eating the light from the El!? Eve, what is this place?" Aisha glanced out into the pit below as a foul, bitter breeze rose from its depths.

"...I am no longer certain. I only heard of it in records, as a tunnel constructed to bisect the island and move raw materials quickly from the outer plains to the core. When I was born, it had already been sealed for several years..." She turned aside and a shroud of guilt fell across the shoulders. "...I should not have brought you all here. I-"

"It's not your fault." Rena reached over and rested her hand on Eve's shoulder. "You're the only reason we've made it this far in the first place. Now we just need to get out as fast as we-" A shrill whistle cut through the air as something moved withing the range of their El and Rena pushed Eve to the ground, leaping back and drawing her bow. "Everybody get down!"

Aisha frantically dove to the ground with Elsword tumbling on top of her as Rena took a knee and Raven crouched alongside her. With the shadows still and the air silent around them, everyone stared anxiously, searching for any sign of movement. The moment a faint glimmer shone in the distance, Rena released a rapid volley into shadows and tore through the approaching object as it entered the edge of their El. Sputtering and dropping to the ground, a small drone, covered in thick, mossy slime sparked and finally settled into silence.

Eve brushed herself off and rose to her feet, leaning forward to examine the battered drone. "...This... has no heart..."

"What? But, how was it moving?" Aisha looked back as she pulled Elsword up off the ground, raising his head just long enough to steal a glimpse of the broken drone.

Raven scoffed and moved to the front of the path, raising his sword and taking a wide stance. "I doubt asking is gonna get us any answers. It was moving even without El, and the stuff it's covered in looks like the stuff floating all around us."

"...Aisha, please burn it." Eve turned away, her aversion concealing the painful distress carved into her face. Putrid grey smoke rose from the melting drone and everyone hurried away from its mangled corpse before its toxic fumes could taint their scarce supply of breathable air. As they pressed forward into the uncharted reaches of the transporting tunnel, the seething, gaping maw of the pit groaned and poured its caustic breath over the narrow path. Fleeting glimpses of a writhing, twisting mass in the void below sent a crisp chill across Aisha's back as cold sweat poured down the side of her face. Every once in a while, Elsword would cough and stumble for a moment, supporting himself for a few steps before falling back against Aisha's shoulder. Looking to Rena for reassurance did her no good, the ever present smile that seemed to never leave her face was nowhere to be found. At the front of the group, Raven's eyes shifted anxiously as he took each step with deliberate precision, his entire body tense and waiting for the next attack. Even Eve's hands were beginning to tremble as the path descended further into the cavern, bringing them closer to the squirming shadows below. All throughout, silence. Footsteps faded quickly and the lack of El smothered every echo, leaving only the muffled roar of flames to break the deceptive calm each time Aisha chased away the deadly spores. After pausing a moment to pull Elsword's arm over her shoulder again, Aisha felt a slight tickle at the back of her throat and she began to cough. When she pulled her hand away from her mouth, a stream of blood trickled down across her palm.

"W...what..." Her breath froze and face went pale as a drop of scarlet fell against the ground. Seeing the horror on her face, Rena hurried over and studied Aisha's hand, searching for a wound and finding none until she looked up and saw the thin line of blood seeping out of her mouth.

"Aisha, what's wrong? What happened?"

"I don't know, I just coughed and-" She swallowed hard, the faint taste of iron lingering at the back of her throat. "...I breathed, when I went out to save Elsword, I breathed in the poison..."

A wave of unrestrained sorrow washed over Rena's face, even if only for a moment. "Eve, hold Elsword for a minute."

Eve headed over and awkwardly pulled Elsword away, holding him up by his shoulders while Rena rifled through her medical kit. As she sorted through her supply of vials and sachets, her mouth turned down and her expression hardened. Coming up empty, she reached forward and held Aisha against her.

"Sorry, that was all the medicine I had. This'll have to do for now."

"W-what are you doing?" Aisha blushed lightly, the color returning to her face as she heard Rena's rapid heartbeat. "I'll be fine, it's not-" Another cough, this time more violent. As Rena pulled away, Aisha saw the ghastly red stain splattered against her chest. Forcing a light sigh, Rena smiled as best she could, uneasy and still uncertain of their prospects for survival.

"Don't worry. Everything will be alri-"

From the silence, a long, spindly metal arm reached over the edge of the pit and grabbed Rena's leg, instantly dragging her down into the darkness. Without a moment's pause, Raven dove after her, calling out her name as he hacked away wildly at her attacker. All too late, Aisha reached out and called after them, her voice arrested at the edge of the El's faint glow.

"Wait, Raven! Don't-" A coarse growl rose in her throat as she stifled another cough. Beside her, Eve set Elsword on the ground and opened her console once more.

"Do not worry. Raven's left arm is powered by a core of El crystals. They will be able to survive so long as they can keep the toxins at bay. We need to focus on finding a way to rescue them now..." Eve's words rang hollow in her mind even before she spoke them. With Elsword mumbling and incapacitated and Aisha's condition worsening by the second, Eve knew that saving Rena and Raven, and in fact, saving everyone, may very well fall to her and her alone.

Down at the base of the cliff, Raven stood clutching the arm of a skeletal nasod in his left hand with his sword plunged into its chest. Next to him, Rena scrambled to her feet and plucked the string of her bow, blasting the poison mist away with a burst of air. Just as Raven turned to ask Rena if she was hurt, a soft warmth fell against his back.

"Ah, sorry..." Rena wheezed and panted, failing to suppress a violent cough. "... I gasped right when it pulled me down, so I've got a lot of poison in my lungs..."

Raven turned, ignoring the blood dripping across his back and steadying Rena with his right hand. He wanted to reach out and check her temperature, to ask if she was alright, to tell her that this was nothing compared to what she'd been through in the past, but at that moment, surrounded by the living silence, none of that seemed to matter. Instead, he turned his back to her and knelt down.

"Get on. We've got to hurry back to the others."

Rena chuckled anxiously. "I was actually thinking... to tell you that I might not make it that far... so just take my El and climb back up..."

Raven scoffed. "Carry it yourself. I can't be bothered."

"See? I knew it wouldn't work..." She smiled, her skin pale and her hair in disarray as though she'd just fallen through the sky and been dragged through the sea. Finally accepting Raven's offer, she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his neck as he rose to his feet and headed off through the black morass.

"Wait, no... set me down... I'll walk from-" A fit of coughing interrupted Rena's protest and Raven carried on undeterred.

"You're starting to get delusional, probably from the poison. Try not to talk."

Rena reached around and drew back her bow, releasing a feeble breeze that scattered the encroaching spores. "Now you're just being stubborn..."

Raven reached out and caught a flying drone with his nasod arm, crushing it quickly and tossing it aside. "If that's what it takes." He scoffed again. "Offering to stay behind... there's no way I'd even let you consider that. You're the strongest out of all of us, it'd be stupid to let you die just to save me.

Turning her head, Rena hacked and coughed across her shoulder, spraying a fine crimson mist into the air. "You seem... to be think I'm a strong person... that's not..." Another cough cut her off abruptly. Scowling, Raven continued to trace the edge of the cliff, stepping over the unnaturally mangled remains of ancient nasod.

"How many years have you been fighting? I've been a soldier for thirteen years and I've already seen more of my comrades die than I could ever count. If you can spend that many years watching the people you fought alongside and cared about die around you and still smile the way you do... You're a lot stronger than I've ever been."

"No..." Rena buried her face in the back of Raven's neck, her voice cracking as a flood of memories surged through her mind. "I can't be... because, you're strong enough to carry someone who's been wounded and not leave them behind..."

"...Worry about that when we get out of here." Sensing her growing distress, Raven hastened his pace and ran along the wall without pause until a bright, shimmering light appeared overhead. Holding his ground and raising his guard, Raven glared fiercely and waited for the one, impossibly short moment when he could strike. Fortunately, striking proved unnecessary. Floating slowly toward them, Eve and Aisha held Elsword between them as they searched the impermeable darkness for their companions. As they landed, Raven noticed a slow, lumbering shadow approaching from behind. He called out to no avail, realizing that his voice could never span the minuscule distance between them. Even as he rushed to their aid, he realized that he wouldn't make it in time.

Creaking into view just behind Eve's shoulder, a broken, moss-covered nasod raised its arms and prepared to strike. Just as Raven reached the edge of their El, however, the nasod tumbled backward, its legs crushed by the edge of Elsword's blade.

"Unn... guys... pay more attention..." Just as he raised his sword to strap it onto his back, his senses failed him once again and his head fell against his shoulders, blood trickling out of his nose and mouth as Aisha hurried to prop him up. Once she saw Raven and Rena, she opened her mouth to speak and promptly covered it again as a splash of blood leaked out from between her fingers and fell across her chin.

Preempting the obvious questions, Raven headed over to Aisha and turned so that she could see Rena safely on his back. "We're both fine, but Rena breathed in a lot of the poison along the way."

"Yup, see, fin-" Rena spat up a bit of blood and tried to force a smile. "Maybe not fine. Eve, how do we get back up?"

Studying her console, Ever shook her head slowly. "No, we cannot get back to the upper level. Moreover, it would take too much time to do so. There is another exit nearby, it will lead us farther away from the Core than expected, but we have little choice. Also..." Her voice darkened and she stared into the writhing shadows ahead, "There is a large heat source up ahead."

Aisha pressed her hand against her head as it began to throb and burn, wincing as she glanced over at Eve. "Like a fire or something?"

"No." Eve closed her console and pulled Moby and Remy to her side. "Most likely, a large organism... Regardless, we will have to pass by it to reach the exit."

"That..." A heavy, humid gust swept the words from Rena's lips and Aisha raised a curtain of flame to fend off the torrent of toxic spores riding on the wind. Raven and Eve were the only two left who weren't coughing up blood and drenched in sweat, but Raven was quickly showing the signs of fatigue from being on constant guard, and amplifying her El crystal seemed to be wearing Eve out rapidly. Despite their anxiety, despite their fears, the only option left to them that ended with their survival was to press on. Slowly, they trudged through the sea of shadows and toward the great, groaning creature that guarded the exit. As they neared, the screeching, moaning symphony of shambling nasod rang out around them as claws and drills lunged out of the darkness and thrashed about wildly. Raven and Aisha fended off their attackers with quick jabs and small bursts of magic, but their confined quarters and intense exhaustion made it difficult for them to do much more than push back the wretched horde closing in around them. As Eve send Moby and Remy flying into the heartless, reanimated nasod, the light shining from them illuminated a grisly scene; each of the ancient nasod marching toward them was mangled, maimed, and twisted into an unnatural state, the tattered remnants of their bodies covered and filled with the iridescent glow of a slick, slimy green moss. Eve's countenance wavered, her eyes growing wider with every step they took and each nasod they pushed away. Soon, her feet began to drag and she noticed that Elsword had gone completely limp at her side.

"Aisha! He is not breathing!"

In a moment of sheer panic, Aisha ran back to Elsword and did the only thing she could think to do: She punched him square in the chest. "I told you you're not allowed to die!"

Blood sprayed into the air, spilling across Aisha's face and dripping onto Eve's shoulder as Elsword gasped and finally began breathing on his own. As it happened, that distraction was just enough to give up all the ground they had gained against the nasod and a swarm of flailing, frantic arms reached out toward them from every direction. Smashing and punching as quickly as he could, Raven was only able to clear a narrow path ahead. In a desperate attempt to push back the nasod, Raven grabbed a large armored worker drone with his left arm and swung it out broadly, sweeping away the others and tossing them off to the side. For scarcely a second, his right side was exposed and a razor sharp claw swiped out from the shadows and cut into his shoulder. As he cringed and staggered back, Aisha rushed over and blasted the nasod with a burst of dark magic, panting and coughing as she stumbled forward. After an excruciating three hundred yards through the moaning horde, they reached a small corridor that led off to the surface.

At the very moment when their spirits rose and they could see the exit with their own eyes, a deep, oppressive silence fell over them. The nasod retreated. The breeze subsided. Standing within sight of the tunnel gates, everyone froze as surely as if they were bound in steel. Slowly, a pair of great, gleaming eyes began to open just above them. Further, broader, wider than any eyes should have been able to open, piercing the pitch black as though they could cut through the very silence itself and scream louder than sound itself. As the eyes blossomed fully, it was obvious that they weren't part of a creature at all but a flower, two massive, ghoulish flowers each bigger than a house and waving gently in the absence of El. Their glowing eyes shifted quickly, darting across the cavern before settling on Eve, their lurid bulk heaving with a vulgar groan and spewing out a dense cloud of toxic spores. Gleaming in the light of the massive eyes, over a thousand shambling nasod stood as though waiting for instruction, their gruesome, decaying faces locked in the agony of their dying breaths. It was a sight that Eve hadn't wanted to see, and she would later regret having seen it at all, but as she stared out at the mindless horde of heartless corpses, her abject terror melted away, replaced by a solemn sense of duty.

"Raven. Please lead everyone to the exit. It will become very dangerous here very soon." Eve propped Elsword against the wall and held her hands out before her, strengthening her static field even further as she stepped away from everyone else. Small flashes of electricity flickered in the air around her as she faced the fascinating, terrifying monstrosity above. Before she could head off to face it, Aisha hurried after her, picking Elsword up and stifling a cough.

"You- You'll be right behind us, right?"

With her eyes cold and her face firm and stoic, Eve glanced back over her shoulder and nodded. "...I promise."

Aisha didn't answer, instead staring straight at Eve with a powerful determination in her eyes. Turning to Raven out toward the gate, she pulled Elsword along as quickly as she could, constantly glancing back at Eve as she raced off toward the giant, gleaming eyes.

As Eve approached, the flower's eyes followed her every movement, studying her as though they were keen to learn all that they could, or perhaps tracking her as a predator hungry for its next meal. Unmoved by the clattering of the reanimated nasod around her, Eve gazed sharply at the great, unnatural eyes that shifted in the silence as its caustic, garish breath swirled around her, forced back by her static aura. As the haze of poison cleared, Eve addressed the beast with ice on her tongue and fire in her eyes.

"I do not know what you are nor what your purpose is, but you have disturbed the rest of the ancient nasod, and you have caused a great deal of pain to my companions. For their sake, and for the future of the nasod race, you will have to die."

Eve waved reached down to her side and drew out a small, slender device, holding it steadily as it expanded and folded itself out into a massive cannon. As she tampered with its settings and released all safeties, the swarm of nasod suddenly rushed toward her, lashing out recklessly as they charged in defense of the silence. Leaping back sharply, Eve hurled her cannon directly into the giant eyes, a massive gravity well erupting and tearing apart everything in its path as Eve flew away and just scarcely escaped the resulting chain of explosions. As its petals burned and its flesh burst into flames, the monster in the tunnel let out a single, deafening screech that rippled through the silence and made the very ground shake. At the end of the nearby corridor, Eve could see a small fragment of light, the open path to the outside world. Gliding faster than she thought was possible, she hurtled through the air and out of the tunnel, tumbling outside and nearly slamming headlong into Aisha. As she finally emerged, Raven forced the gate shut and twisted its handle, ensuring that no one would be able to open it easily from now on.

Relieved beyond words, Aisha and Rena slumped over on the grass as the cool, fresh air filled their lungs and they finally breathed easily. Slouching against an embankment, Raven finally caught his breath and checked over his wounds, still glancing back at the tunnel gate to make sure nothing tried to follow them out. Nearby, Elsword finally raised his head and coughed a bit, gasping for air and opening his eyes wide.

"Gah...! What... What happened... Where are we?" He tilted his head back and looked around, so grateful to see the sky that he flopped back onto the grass and smiled wearily.

"What happened?" Aisha spoke between gasps, still panting and clearing her lungs of poison. "We almost died a hundred times, there was a giant monster plant that controlled dead nasod, and I had to carry you almost the entire way through cause you kept passing out..."

"Eh!?" Elsword blinked. "I... ugh... sorry... I kind of remember now..." He held his forehead, hoping to suppress his pounding headache.

"Actually, It's completely fine." Aisha stared up at the swirling clouds overhead. "Considering all the other stuff, having to carry you wasn't really such a big deal..."

Rena giggled alongside them. "Ah... this is one of those times... you know... where nothing at all can be better than just being alive..."

"Heh..." Raven chuckled lightly. "Yeah, I know this feeling. It's kind of sad that we're there already when we've still got so much ahead of us though."

Eve looked around, her eyes finally softening and the tension fading from her gaze "...We should be safe here. I... would like to take a break."

Needless to say, there were no objections.

* * *

Deep underground, beneath the rotting carcass of the giant, toxic flowers of the transporting tunnel, a long, slender vine slithered and sulked across the ground, weaving between piles of fused metal and broken nasod and crawling across the ground. Soon, it happened upon a small puddle, something warm and thick and as yet unknown to the squirming plant. Opening its mouth carefully, it slurped up every last drop of the deep red liquid, shuttering as it savored its bitter taste. A few moments later, a low, rumbling groan resounded through the tunnel and a fresh cloud of toxic spores poured out from a fissure in the ground as more than a hundred bright, gleaming eyes burst open and stared out into the silence.


	30. A Kindling Storm

A Kindling Storm

* * *

The crisp crackle of lightning split the sky as thunderclouds swirled violently beneath the shores of Altera, the black tendrils of a massive hurricane splashing across the cliffside and shaking the island slightly. Standing above the howling wind and the roaring thunder, Eve surveyed the broad fields of trampled grass and crumpled reeds in the distance, every square foot under the constant watch of at least two vigilant nasod. In total, nearly three hundred mechanical soldiers guarded the plains surrounding the entrance to the Core, far fewer than the legions that stood at the ready just a few kilometers away. With her reconnaissance complete and the ground beneath her feet rattling softly, Eve's eyes darkened and she returned to the others.

"How did it go? Did you figure out where we are?" Rena stood with her hand against her ear, keeping her hair from her face as it whipped about in the wind. On the ground beside her, Elsword and Aisha sat with their backs together, leaning against one another as they rubbed the soreness from their shoulders and used the faint afternoon sunlight to review their incantations. Nearby, a shower of sparks burst through the air and vanished in an instant as Raven sharpened the edge of his blade against a small whetstone.

As the air trembled and the earth shook, Eve stood within the center of a tenuous calm, surrounded by nasod patrols and thunder crashing against the shore. For reasons she could not begin to explain, she hesitated. The path was clear before her and there was no time left for delay, but when it came time to tell her companions that the very safest route to take would be directly through a field full of elite nasod soldiers she found herself uncertain. With the transporting tunnel sealed behind them, they were already beyond any hope of retreat, but still she wavered. It was apparent now more than ever that after they took the next step, they would be sprinting all the way to the end.

As the dark mist of the shrieking storm spilled across the valleys and settled into the hollows, Eve nodded slowly and turned back toward the plains.

"The most direct route to the Core will take us through that open field. Beyond that is the foundry, where all nasod tools and buildings are manufactured. Most likely, it is now being used to produce munitions. The central elevator in the foundry should lead directly into the inner Core..." She glanced back at the others, a measure of caution in her level voice. "We will meet with significant resistance from this point forward... Are you ready?"

Rena smiled broadly at her as Elsword and Aisha each gave a wry grin, gathering up their weapons and climbing to their feet. Right behind them, Raven sheathed his sword and stood, his eyes narrow and his brow furrowed as he glared out at the field full of enemies below. Though their confidence and bravado masked a wealth of scars, they each held their ground against the howling wind and prepared to rush straight into an overwhelming swarm of whirling blades and bursting cannons. Rolling his right shoulder and adjusting his grip, Elsword smirked deviously and stared down at the rippling sea of reeds.

"Yeah, let's go. They'll get pissed if we make em' wait any longer to get their faces smashed in."

"Heh..." Raven chuckled lightly, "If you're as slow as you were in practice yesterday, they'll be waiting another week."

Elsword's eyes brightened and he glanced aside at Raven. "You wanna make that a bet?"

"Hmph..." Aisha stretched her hands out and gathered a sphere of swirling dark energy in each of her hands and grinned. "Are you guys really gonna fight over second place?" As thunder shook the sky above, Aisha dashed down the hillside with Raven and Elsword following close behind her. Somber eyes followed them into battle as Eve flew off toward the skirmish, running alongside Rena and raising her voice to compete with the endless symphony of the storm.

"Rena... Why do they pretend to be in high spirits? Their pulse and heart rates are erratic and their breathing is unsteady. They are obviously anxious and distressed."

"Ah, well..." Rena drew her bow and pulled it taut, holding it at her side as she rushed into the field of clattering steel. "Sometimes, pretending you're not afraid is the best way to keep yourself together." She slid forward and released her bowstring, firing a burst of gleaming arrows across the plains and piercing the nasod all around Elsword and Aisha. Without a moment's rest, Rena darted across the field and joined the fray, pinning down the approaching patrols and picking off nasod marksmen.

As Eve stood uncertain, Rena's words echoed through her memory over and over until she could scarcely make sense of them anymore. Before they had set out, she was prepared to destroy millions of these mechanical mockeries of the nasod and her resolve was unshakable. Now, she still felt her sense of duty and purpose just as strongly, but something else arose inside her thoughts, something that gave her pause and made her doubt her own directions. What was it that made her so uneasy? Why was she suddenly questioning herself when she had been so certain before? After a mere second that seemed like an eternity of bellowing thunder and shearing steel, she finally identified the cause of her concern; immediately classified as an 'anomalous error', there was a small, unassuming sensation that developed in her routines just within the past twelve hours. At least, she had decided that it must be an error of some sort, the result of her abrupt awakening and the centuries she spent sleeping. Otherwise, she could offer no rational explanation for her sudden attachment to the people she was now traveling with. She could not explain why she wanted so badly for them to remain safe and unharmed. In the midst of a raging battle and an oncoming storm, there would be no time to track down the root of this error. The very best she could do, for herself and for her companions, would be to eliminate everything that threatened their safety.

Eve dashed over the quaking earth as lightning flashed across the sky, cutting through violent gusts and quivering reeds. Light bleached the air and drowned out all color, leaving Rena momentarily blinded and dazed. As soon as her vision returned, she saw Eve gliding past her, rushing toward a pair of nasod hiding in the underbrush. Swinging her hands out swiftly, she hurled Moby and Remy into her enemies, knocking them into one another and sending them toppling backward. Before they had a chance to react, Eve leapt forward and threw out a pair of electrified spears that pierced the nasod and burst through their bodies, leaving them laying in a broken heap on the ground. Eve's feet touched the ground for only an instant before she jumped aside, avoiding a hail of gunfire and flying over to Aisha's side.

_I was not designed for combat... however, if I am to continue calling myself the Queen of the Nasod, I must be capable of at least this much..._

While Aisha was occupied with a pair of massive armored assault drones, a pack of light infantry moved around to flank her. Spinning quickly, Eve dropped from the sky and swung her hands down, sending her drones crashing into the approaching nasod one by one, pummeling their faces and knocking them to the ground. As Aisha held her attackers in place with a gleaming ethereal chain, Eve gathered her energy into her hands and released a colossal orb of electricity, bursting brightly and ripping the massive nasod apart.

_Even if I have to destroy every one of the false nasod on this island, I will bring my people back..._

A surge of thunder rattled the air as the hurricane roared and hissed, its crown now rising into the sky and swallowing up Altera's shoreline. Seeing Elsword surrounded, Eve darted across the plains and charged her hands, unleashing a stream of electron balls across the field and into the air. Crippled by the overwhelming shock, the nasod at Elsword's back and flank staggered and fell to their knees, quickly collapsing onto the brittle wheatgrass below. From the North, a swarm of blade-armed soldiers charged over the corpses of their comrades, their feet falling heavily against the trembling earth. Breathing in deeply, Elsword drove his blade deep into the ground and clenched his fists, sending a wave of glistening swords shooting out of the ground and into the oncoming nasod. Those that remained upright continued their charge for only a moment longer, stopped cold by a slender spear that raced through the air at Eve's command. As the billowing howls of rain and wind subsided, she saw that Raven was struggling to fend off a pair of nasod soldiers while a dozen snipers pelted him with bullets that he could only just scarcely block with his left arm. With the wind circling around to her back, Eve hurled Remy and Moby toward the snipers' nest.

_I cannot allow you to misuse the hearts of the nasod any longer. I cannot allow you to hurt them more than you already have!_

As the marksmen took aim and prepared to attack, Eve swept her hands out sharply, pulling her drones across each rifle's barrel. When the nasod opened fire, their guns were pointed firmly at the chest of the soldier next to them, leaving only the first in line alive. While Raven dispatched his attackers handily, Eve hurried toward the remaining sniper just as a bolt of lightning shot through the air overhead. Raising Remy into the air above her, Eve captured the errant bolt and threw her drone out at the lone marksman, blowing it away with a concentrated burst of electricity. With the shrieking black clouds of the ravenous storm engulfing Altera, Eve stood on a small outcropping and panted heavily, her arms and legs weary from the strain of battle and her energy nearly depleted. While she waited helplessly as she regained her strength, a dark, jagged shadow rose from the reeds at her back, looming over her with malicious intent. It was all she could do just to turn her head and see the ominous outline of a giant mace crashing down upon her. She tried to move, but her legs were heavy and numb, their power drained by Eve's earlier haste. With her energy absent, all she could do was stand her ground and brace for impact.

A sharp metallic clamor pierced the air as a monstrous mass of twisting spikes ground to a halt against gleaming steel. As the flash of lightning flooded the air, Eve stood stunned as she stared at the mace resting just a half foot above her head, its massive bulk held in check by no fewer than four familiar weapons. Raven. Rena. Aisha. Elsword. At the instant Eve was in the greatest danger, they had all rushed to her side, easily deflecting a fatal blow and menacing the mechanical knight that stood before them. Pushing with all their might, Raven and Elsword cast the mace aside while Rena riddled the towering nasod's chest with arrows, leaping to the side as Aisha blasted its bulk away with a sharp burst of dark energy.

"You okay?" Elsword looked back over his shoulder at Eve, his eyes narrow as sweat rolled down his cheek. It was a simple question, part of the familiar routine of confirming everyone's condition after close calls and sudden shocks, but with her energy sapped and her thoughts overflowing, Eve was unable to answer. Within moments, Aisha and Rena were at her side shaking her shoulders and waving their hands in front of her face.

"Eve! Eve, are you okay!?"

"...I-" The deep bellowing of distant thunder interrupted, giving Eve just enough time to compose herself and run a quick diagnostic of her internal systems. Power reserves up to seventy percent. Mobility normal. All cognitive processes normal, or so her programming told her. The tight pressure in her chest gave he cause to doubt her own assessment, but doubt would have to wait for a time when she could afford it, when lightning and lead weren't falling all around her. Blinking slowly, Eve straightened her spine and raised her head, meeting Rena's worried gaze as a light mist gathered on her cheeks.

"I am alright. I depleted my energy reserves and was temporarily unable to move. There is no cause for concern."

"Like hell there isn't!" Aisha glared fiercely as the swirling fog twisted around her ankles and blanketed the ground. "You can't just say everything's fine after you almost died!"

The pressure in Eve's chest became a sharp, stabbing pain and her mouth hung open, unable to issue a response to Aisha's angry, anxious eyes. Before she could form an intelligible answer, Rena intervened.

"Aisha, it's alright... Look, they're all retreating for now, so let's find somewhere safe and rest up for a bit."

"...Yeah." Aisha scowled and let her shoulders relax as the whistling wind scattered her hair across her face. Even with all the time she had spent preparing for diplomatic excursions into the human world, Eve could not decipher Aisha's nervous glare, Elsword's uneasy glower, or Rena's soft, sighing smile. For now, rest and recovery would be the best course of action and sorely needed after a battle that ended with the destruction of nearly two hundred nasod in less than ten minutes. It was a great misfortune then that they were immediately robbed of any respite.

A bright, fiery glow rose in the shaded sky as a blazing meteor tore through the clouds and plummeted toward the desolate plains. With no time to shout a warning to the others, Rena drew back her bow and released a powerful blast of air, scattering everyone into the air just in time to avoid the massive impact of a smoldering fireball. As Eve rolled across the crumbling grass, she caught sight of a tall, lumbering shadow at the edge of the field, a shape at once familiar and entirely alien to her.

"Is that...Ignis...?"

Rising to her feet, Eve found Elsword and Rena standing nearby, their feet held steady and their backs turned on the fuming crater left behind by the meteor's impact. The towering shadow of an ancient nasod charged toward them with reckless haste and they each took a wide stance, leaping aside as a heavy steel claw plowed into the ground at their feet. By the time they regained their balance, a menacing suit of scarlet steel stood over them, its jagged shoulders billowing smoke and its arms engulfed in flames. Dashing to the side and circling around the fiery nasod, Elsword lunged forward and swung out broadly at the back of the nasod's knee. His opponent made no effort to move, standing its ground as Elsword's blade hit the weakest patch of its armor with a faint thud and bounced away.

"What the hell?" Jumping back in shock, Elsword confirmed with a glance what he'd already felt; he hadn't made even the lightest scratch on the nasod's hide. Before he could prepare for another strike, a wave of fire and ash surged toward him, surrounding him in an instant. Just before the flames consumed him, Rena ran to his side and plucked her bow, blasting the conflagration away and firing a pair of arrows toward Ignis, both of which scattered harmlessly into the wind.

"Be careful! Its partner is hiding somewhere nearby!" Even as Eve shouted her warning, a huge, jagged icicle sailed across the plains, its tip aiming for Rena's chest. Lightning flashed and cast a keen shadow across the ground as Raven rushed forward and sliced the icy javelin into a mound of rounded lumps. A dozen yards away, Aisha frantically hurled a volley of fireballs toward a silvery blue giant, a huge nasod that tossed a relentless stream of sharpened ice toward her. In the violent roars and quick flashes that followed, Eve could finally confirm the identify of their opponents; Ignis and Leviathan, the ancient guardians of the nasod empire. At that moment, she knew that there would be no escaping this battle uninjured.

Now standing side by side, the guardians of the plains stared down at the intruders before them. As a the cascade of thunder and wind subsided, they spoke in unison with a great, unnerving voice that cut through the air like a rusted spear.

"Cease Your Resistance Immediately. You Will Enter Into Our Custody, Or You Will Be Neutralized. Make Your Choice Quickly."

A round of exasperated scowls answered them immediately as Aisha and Elsword scoffed and glared sharply at them. Glancing aside, Elsword's eyes narrowed as the roaring wind swept across the plains once more.

"You feel like givin' up yet?"

"Hmph." Aisha rolled her wrists and tapped her toes against the ground. "What for? It's not like these guys can take us."

"Heh..." Elsword grinned, his knees bent and ready to charge when a bright ivory glow flew past him and landed only feet away from the towering nasod. Eve stared up coldly, her eyes pleading and stern as a spray of mist scattered across her face.

"Stop this at once! I am your queen, and I will not permit threats against my companions."

Ignis shifted its head, staring down at Eve with its single, glowing eye. "You Are No Longer Recognized As Our Queen. Your Orders Are Invalid."

A terrible shock ran across Eve's shoulders, down her spine and into her chest, sharper and more unsettling than lightning's strike. The echo of their words rang out through her mind a million times in the next second, each repetition seeming more unreal than the last. Surely, she expected the mindless, mass-produced machines of war to ignore her authority, but these two... they were ancient nasod, the guardians of Altera who had existed for centuries beyond Eve's own birth. She knew them by name, she remembered the sound of their voice, she had spoken to them as a child and watched them fend off the human invasions over a thousand years ago. The very thought that they were rejecting her of their own will gave rise to a new, disturbing pain that twisted and writhed in the pit of her stomach. As she stood staring uneasily, Leviathan reached forward and swung its broad arms swiftly, knocking Eve through the air and onto her back with a powerful thud just as the bellow of thunder erupted overhead.

Without waiting for any further negotiation, Elsword ran across the plains, quickly closing the distance between himself and the merciless guardians and throwing a dense bolt of flame at the icy Leviathan. Ignoring the fiery curtain as if it were a warm summer breeze, Leviathan countered with a quick jab that met with the broad side of Elsword's blade. Reeling back from the powerful punch, Elsword gritted his teeth and scowled harshly.

"How the hell do we hurt these things? Nothing's gettin' through!"

"Their barrier..." Eve's arms and elbows quivered as she pushed herself up, struggling to regain her breath as her drones pushed lightly against her back. "They are protected by a barrier device. If we destroy that, they will be vulnerable." She raised her console with one hand and spread its screens out in front of her. "I will track its location now."

"We Cannot Allow That." In the breadth of a second, the guardians stormed past Elsword and Aisha, bowling them over and barreling toward Eve. Just as she was scrambling to her feet, a flurry of sparks and fire spread across the gusting wind as Raven and Rena rushed in to block the guardians' advance. Rena turned her head and looked over to Eve, her bow braced against Ignis's furious blows.

"Go! We'll hold them off while you take down the barrier!" Then, sensing the strife and conflict in Eve's eyes, Rena gave a quick, confident grin. "Don't worry, we'll be fine." In the next moment, a strong pulse of wind from Rena's bow forced the guardians back, giving Eve just enough space to fly away in search of the barrier generator. As Ignis and Leviathan turned to pursue her, they found Aisha and Elsword barring their path. As the cyclopean nasod readied their next attack, Aisha shot Elsword a quick glance and a smooth grin.

"Don't die on this one, okay? I don't want to have to lug all your stuff around."

"Heh, die?" Elsword laughed lightly. "I won't even get a scratch on me."

In the next instant, as the wind carried their voices away, the air exploded into a bright cloud of smoke and steam, obscuring the field from Eve's view as she rushed toward the foot of the mountain nearby.

At first, the signal from the barrier device was weak, drowned out by the electricity crackling in the air and dampened by the rough, worn rock of the mountainside. After just a hundred yards, however, the signal began to grow, reaching out from a narrow chasm in the mountain's base. As she approached the ragged cliffside, her feet froze. When the nasod had retreated from the field just a few minutes ago, they were not returning to the foundry to regroup. They were gathering here, in the gaping maw of the mountain, standing watch over the bright, humming barrier that kept the guardians from harm. With just a glance, Eve knew that she was incapable of defeating the army before her. At her best estimate, she could destroy just less than half before her energy reserves ran dry and she collapsed. The impossibility of her task gave her pause for only a moment though; after all, she did not have to destroy a hundred weaponized nasod. She merely had to destroy a single machine, and that was well within her power.

Seizing the initiative, Eve launched a pair of electrified spears into the crowd of nasod, cutting deep into their ranks and opening a narrow path. Running through the horde, she swept Moby and Remy out beside her, knocking over the nasod at her side and sending them toppling over into their comrades. An abrupt impact halted her progress as a shield-bearing soldier charged quickly and pushed her all the way back toward the cliffside. Scowling bitterly, Eve jumped onto the armored nasod and kicked off of its shield, flying into the air and soaring over the swarm below. As her momentum waned, she gathered a strong charge in her hands and cast her hands in a wide arc, spreading a hail of electric orbs through the air that fell and burst violently as they collided with the nasod on the ground. With the wind at her back, she managed to land just beside the pulsing barrier device.

With no regard for the shadows closing in on her, Eve swept her hands out and drove her drones into the buzzing generator, denting its thick shell and tearing a tiny hole in its armor. A painful blow interrupted her attack as the mindless throng rushed to surround her, knocking her against the razor sharp rocks and slamming her to the ground. In a fit of desperation, Eve fired a pair of electron orbs out in front of her, flashing and knocking away the nearest nasod while she leapt to her feet. As she hurried back to the generator, however, she found it firmly surrounded by more than a dozen formidable guards. Dashing blindly into their midst, Eve thrust Remy and Moby toward the generator, pounding another hole in its hide before being knocked away into the cliffside.

_Twenty-six destroyed... I will not last if I have to-_

A swift blow to the chest halted her reflections and forced her to slide back, losing ground and panting heavily. Her arms were tattered and her sleeves torn and frayed, her hands trembling as her knees buckled beneath her and her balance failed to keep her upright. As she staggered toward the barrier machine, her eyes heavy and her breath a sharp staccato, she dug her feet into the ground and leapt. As a dozen pairs of bladed arms swung down upon her, Eve thrust her hand into the small tear in the barrier's shell and discharged a hundred thousand volts into its core. A great, savage explosion shook the sky and resounded across the mountainside and in the following moment, silence.

Wiping a stream of blood from his eye, Raven dodged an icy fist and began matching blows with Leviathan. With every swing, his blade bounced away as if it were a dull plank slapping the side of a steel gate. Determined to make a mark on his opponent before the frost on his fingers forced him to resign, he darted between Leviathan's legs and thrust his sword into its back. When he felt his blade sink in up to its hilt, he immediately leapt back in awe. Amazed by its own frailty, Leviathan pivoted awkwardly, stumbling toward Raven with its fist raised high overhead. Before it could exact revenge for its injury, Aisha snapped her fingers and a stream of scalding plasma pierced the air and sliced Leviathan's arms from its body in a single, clean swipe.

Across the field, Rena huffed and panted as sweat poured from her face and ash covered her hands. As Ignis charged toward her wildly, she ran forward and jumped as high into the air, firing a dozen arrows that burrowed deep into the nasod's armor and stunned it briefly. While Ignis tried to shrug off its wounds, Elsword lunged forward and swung out sharply, spinning around as his blade cut through the nasod's knees. Using the last of his energy, Elsword continued around, bathing his blade in fire and burying it deep in the guardian's chest. Within the space of a few seconds, the indestructible nasod had become heaps of smoldering steel, silent and still as the skies below began to clear. The threat of death defeated, Rena and Elsword hurried over to where Aisha and Raven waited, all four of them running toward the mountain and searching for Eve. At the back of a narrow chasm littered with the gnarled, mutilated remains of a hundred nasod, they found her.

Laying on a small ledge in the middle of the cliffside, Eve was covered in ash and soot, her elegant clothes a shredded mess of charred scraps and her ivory skin smeared with oil and mud. There was no doubt what had caused this catastrophe; at the base of the chasm, a heap of blasted steel lay at the center of the destruction, the ash that marked the massive explosion spreading out like a great black flower, blossoming in the midst of a storm. When they finally reached Eve and brought her down to the ground, Aisha gasped and everyone stared anxiously. The superficial damage to her clothes and skin was quickly overshadowed by the exposed wires and fizzling circuits sticking out of her broken arm. Wheezing and desperate for breath, Eve opened her eyes slowly, her left a faint, flickering gold and her right eye black and empty.

Too horrified to speak, Aisha's hands quivered and she clenched her fists to stop their trembling. At her side, Elsword's mouth hung open, but words retreated from his lips. As the last lingering remnants of the storm headed off toward the horizon, Raven and Rena stepped forward and tried to administer any semblance of first aid they could, knowing full well that they had no idea how to help an injured nasod, let alone one so complex as Eve.

"Eve, what do we need to do? Where does it hurt? Do you need anything?" Rena rifled through her pack frantically, picking out bandages and salves and then tossing them aside as she realized their impotence. Eve's shoulders creaked as she strained her remaining arm and pushed herself up, her voice a ragged, rasping cough as she spoke.

"A-A-Are you all uninjured?"

"Like hell we are! What happened to you!?" Elsword's eyes went wide and his voice shook uneasily.

"I... did not expect the explosion to be so violent..." As Eve's arm gave out and she collapsed into Rena's arms, moaning in pain as her broken arm fell against the ground. "I can... repair myself with parts from t-the guardians. I apologize. It will delay us for some hours..."

"It's okay, don't strain yourself." Rena wiped the soot from Eve's face and smiled faintly. Peering over her shoulder, Aisha stared at Eve cautiously, a tear on the verge of falling across her face as she knelt down beside her.

"You need help right? Tell us what we need to do! What do you need to fix yourself?"

Turning her head slowly and painfully, Eve breathed in sharply and nodded.

* * *

"Here you go, that's the rest of it." Elsword laid a pile of metal and circuitry down gently on a smooth cloth alongside Eve, the last useful pieces of Ignis and Leviathan that they could salvage. Fortunately, they were of comparable quality to Eve, albeit constructed for combat, and she was quickly able to identify all of the components necessary to return herself to a healthy state. With the final delivery complete, Eve turned to Elsword and glared firmly.

"Thank you. Please leave us now."

"Eh?" Elsword frowned. "You don't have to be so rude about it..."

"She's not being rude, dummy." Aisha huffed and pouted from the corner where she sat sorting through the remains of the giant guardians with Rena. "She's got to undress to fix herself. That means no boys allowed."

"Er... right." Elsword scowled and blushed, sauntering away to join Raven outside the mouth of the small cavern where they had taken refuge. With Aisha and Rena assisting her, Eve was able to repair her broken arm within an half hour, her blinded eyes in just an hour, and by the time the moon overhead, she was on her feet and moving freely.

"Wow..." Aisha blinked, astonished and relieved. "That was a lot quicker than I thought it would be."

"With the necessary equipment, repairs are simple." Eve rotated her wrists and pulled up her console to start a final full body diagnostic scan. "In spite of that I would prefer to never do that again. It was extremely unpleasant."

"Well, at least you're alright now." Rena smiled as a series of beeps and chirps sounded from Eve's console, indicating that she was perfectly fit and able. "But, we've got to lay some rules out now. From now on, no blowing yourself up, even if it helps everyone else. Sacrificing yourself is not allowed, got it?"

Eve blinked, confused. "I do not understand. What do you mean when you say 'it is not allowed'?"

"Just don't do it. There's no need to sacrifice yourself..." Rena's smile softened and her eyelids fell slightly. "I know there are times when it's the only thing you can do, but that's why you of all people shouldn't do it. When you sacrifice yourself, it's like you're saying that there's nothing more you can do, that this is the very most your can accomplish with the rest of your life. It might be the case for someone else, but Eve... you can definitely do more than blowing up one old machine. You're the ruler of this island, right? So you can definitely do much, much more than that."

Without warning, Rena leaned forward and hugged Eve gently, catching her off guard and making her blush brightly. As Rena pulled back, she grinned cheerfully. "So, I guess now we need to get you some clothes, huh?"

"Gah, I didn't even think about that!" Aisha winced, preparing herself for another few hours of work. "Oh, wait, I might have some things she can borrow still... They might fit..."

Shaking her head softly, Eve gathered up the bundle of silkreeds and steel scraps that Raven had brought at her behest. "I can make new fabric with the silkreeds. It will take some time, but Remy and Moby will do most of the work. You two should rest. I will be finished by morning."

"Alright." Rena nodded, weary but content. "Let us know if you need anything though, we'll be right outside."

Eve nodded and Rena walked out into the moonlight, leaving Aisha behind as Eve set to work stripping the silk strands from the pale stalks stacked beside her. Noticing that Aisha was wavering uneasily, she stopped her hands and glanced aside at her.

"Aisha, is something wrong?"

"Oh, no... everything's fine." Aisha shook her head and continued on toward the cavern's mouth. At the exit, she paused and stole a glance back at Eve. "...Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Aisha."

Sighing as much from relief as exhaustion, Aisha headed outside and prepared for sleep, leaving Eve to pass the hours of the night quietly as she set her drones to work weaving a ream of soft silken fabric. While they rolled and hovered about, Eve stepped aside, staring at her console and pondering the pile of scrap leftover from the bodies of Ignis and Leviathan.

_… I will need to trim my hair. It will not be suitable to attack the core with it in such a state. Beyond that, I need to convert my power flow to support sustained periods of intense activity... How troublesome. _As Eve considered her options, it became increasingly clear that she could not keep up with her companions in her current state, let alone face the heightened resistance she expected to meet as they approached the Core. She was the queen, and for that reason alone, she would not tolerate the possibility of becoming a burden on anyone else. As she scanned the scraps of Leviathan's armor, the ancient nasod's small, glowing heart caught her eye and an unexpected thought crossed her mind. Reaching down slowly, the picked up the heart and held it gently, her gaze boring deep into its silvery surface.

_Is it even possible...? I have more than enough material here, and I am well aware of the necessary procedures, but still... no true nasod has ever been born outside of the Core, and its mechanisms are entirely unknown to us. It may not be possible to create another nasod on my own... but, perhaps I should try..._

With her hands moving rapidly, Eve toiled on tirelessly into the night. Even after Remy and Moby had finished assembling her new overcoat and stockings, she continued to work. Even after the moon sank below the sea and the stars brightened the murky night, she continued to work. By the time Eve finally closed her toolbox and dismissed her console, the sun was waiting just below the horizon, casting a faint orange glow across the sky. With only an hour left before her companions awoke, Eve finished the last of her cosmetic adjustments, cutting her bangs evenly and wrapping the rest of her hair into two loose buns on either side of her face. Her new suit of white silk and ebony fit comfortably and, with some strategic steel reinforcements, it would guard her well against the weaponized nasod. Still more than a little nervous, she finally returned to her new creation and opened her console, uncertain of whether or not the assistant she had crafted over the arduous night would even move, let alone be born as a true nasod. With a steady hand and a tense breath, she entered the final startup command and stepped back. Either out of habit, or perhaps as part of a deeper, long forgotten ritual, Eve recited the first words that greeted every newborn nasod.

"Arise, child of the stars. Your hallowed rest is at its end..."

For several seconds, only silence answered her. With doubt creeping into the corners of her mind, Eve's eyes sank and her confidence faded. As she turned back to her toolkit, preparing for another hour of tinkering and adjustments, a faint glimmer caught her attention and she whipped her head around just in time to see her new assistant shake his head out and rise to his feet, stretching his arms carelessly and scratching his back before spotting Eve. As soon as he caught sight of her, he straightened himself up, took his heavy blades in hand, and knelt before his queen. All at once, Eve experienced a new range of sensations that she could not adequately classify as her heart raced and her hands tingled with overflowing electricity. Looking down with what any human would call pride and satisfaction, she nodded firmly at the first real nasod to be born in over six hundred years.

"Welcome to the world, Oberon."


	31. What Time Has Wrought

What Time Has Wrought

* * *

A tortured wail faded quickly into the morning mist as a curved dagger fell against the dry, frozen mud just outside of Ruben village as a pair of disarmed and disorganized bandits fled into the forest. As they ran away clutching their wounded limbs, Lowe glared absently into the great shadow of silence that still surrounded every crevice in the streets and every corner of the fields. It had been more than two months since Elsword left with Aisha and Rena to recover the forest's El and the only news anyone had heard since was that they were on their way into the desert after chasing Lord Wally from his castle. As Lowe walked back toward the tavern, a faint chill brushed against his brow, the weary sigh of a weak winter breeze. Though frost still clung tightly to the trees, it would only be another two weeks before the start of spring. If the El wasn't back by then, this village and all of the others within the forest's reach would be too late for their yearly planting, too late for their autumn harvest, and too late to continue living in this ruthless world.

Scowling as he sheathed his blade, Lowe closed his eyes and scoffed. "I should've taken their El while I had the chance. If they're using it to prey upon a village like this, they don't deserve it." He chastised himself immediately, well aware that he would have never done such a thing even if those 'bandits' had been real criminals. Like almost everyone else who prowled about the village gates these days, the greatest crime in their past was likely along the lines of lying about eating the last dinner roll or forgetting to tie up their horse. As the winter wore on, more and more of the forest's residents took up arms, ambushing travelers on the road and taking their El in a vain attempt to bring some sort of stability to their home. Their efforts often came to naught, like a child trying to patch a fatal wound with a bit of gauze and tape. Realizing this, Lowe could do little more than let these 'bandits' keep their lives and run them off, though the very act of protecting a village languishing in the absence of El was beginning to lose its meaning.

Over the course of the past six weeks, seven villagers had died as a result of accidents involving their El crystals. A child forgot to tie her pendant tightly and it fell into the river when she went to fetch water for the tavern, her breath stolen as her El floated to the bottom of the murky blue. Two men set out to gather supplies from Elder and were robbed on the road, left for dead and found days later, their faces still frozen in dismal fright. Three others died simply by tripping along the street, their crystals falling away and leaving them to suffocate in the eerie silence. Even without losing their El, there were still people on the verge of death. With firewood running scarce and almost all medicine out of reach, three more villagers succumbed to the bitter chill of the endless winter nights and still more were sick, hungry, and exhausted from enduring the long siege against them. With the sun nearly set and the forest welcoming the night, Lowe returned to the tavern where Chief Hagus greeted him with a warm, weary smile.

"Ah, Lowe... welcome back."

A quick nod was the only answer Lowe gave. After the first month, Hagus's familiar greeting became little more than reminder of the stagnation around them; his words were always the same, and his voice only grew more disheartened by the day. As he bit into a tough, crumbling clump of bread, Lowe sighed and folded his arms onto the table before him.

"How many times will the people from the other villages come here looking to steal our El? It can't do them any good if the whole forest stays dead like this."

"Well, you may be right... but we could very easily be in their position..." Hagus slowly sipped a stein of lukewarm water, "In fact, we may be foolish not to be that desperate. Your presence here, and the thought that someday soon, Elsword and our guests will return with the El are all we have to give us the tiniest sliver of hope that we'll survive, and by now... it isn't certain that the boy will make it in time. If we didn't have that tiny fragment of hope, though... we would be worrying about how to save our friends and our families, and when those things are in danger, people do the most reckless things to protect them."

Hagus raised his cup to his lips and his hands trembled, falling away as he broke into a fit of ragged coughs and painful gasps. Before Lowe could move to pat his back, the Chief's throat was clear and he breathed easily and shook his head. "Oof... I'm alright, I'm alright... though if spring doesn't come soon, this cold will be the death of me..."

"Just don't strain yourself... We've got to be ready to plant everything in a single week if it comes down to that."

Returning to his seat, Lowe finished off his bread and folded his hands together, staring quietly into the fireplace as the warmth finally returned to his bones. What Hagus had told him was nothing shocking; he knew very well that they had placed all of their trust in two entirely unknown travelers and a young knight who had yet to prove himself outside of the village grounds. As unreasonable and unlikely as their success appeared, the alternatives were far more certain and far less palatable. At present, Elder was awash with refugees and turning away everyone at the gate, their surplus of food dwindling rapidly as hundreds of starving villagers from the forest poured into the city looking for food and shelter. While the younger villagers might be able to make their way to the coast and forge a new life somewhere far away, that would leave dozens of children, families, and elders waiting at their fireside with the silence wrapped tightly around their shoulders. Their choices were grim; stay and die in silence, or leave and die in hunger. With all other possibilities lost to them and the veil of winter slowly falling away, the villagers of Ruben weathered the siege of stillness and anxiously awaited the return of the El, the return of spring, and the return of life to the breathless world.

* * *

Across the sea, as the morning fog rolled away from Altera's shores, Eve waited within the shadows of the mountainside, staring down at the grand gates of the nasod foundry and its stalwart guards. Despite having spent all of the previous evening repairing herself and constructing Oberon, her feet felt light and her hands were steady as she ran a final check of her newly modified systems.

"System check... all functions normal... engaging broad spectrum cloaking."

A faint glimmer brightened the cliffside for just a moment as Eve's body faded into the wind and she stood invisible before the dawn. Just a hundred yard away, no fewer than a dozen armed nasod stood watch over the foundry's towering facade, their faced flat and empty as they searched the horizon for any sign of intruders. As a strong breeze rustled the reeds at their feet, a sharp metallic clash shattered the morning calm and two nasod fell to the ground in a fuming heap of mangled steel. By the time the other guards took notice of the attack, three more of them lay lifeless against the foundry walls. Almost immediately, the guards stood paralyzed by their rigid programming, unable to declare themselves under attack and unable to identify any errors that could lead to spontaneous maiming. Within seconds, a bright flash of silver rushed toward the gates and sliced cleanly through the remaining nasod, breaking through eight inches of steel and throwing aside the foundry doors as if they were ragged curtains whipping about in the wind. Revealing herself at last, Eve threw her hands out to her side and sent Moby and Remy crashing into a pair of massive boilers, spiraling rapidly and tearing through a half dozen assembly lines as Eve spun her arms and folded them together in front of her.

Now standing in the faint glow of the rising sun as their shadows poured across the factory floor, Elsword, Aisha, Raven, and Rena raised their weapons and surveyed their surroundings. While they stood staring at the countless whirling pumps, presses, and machine mills that produced an endless stream of circuits and sheet metal, a small group of assault model nasod rushed out from the back of the room with their bladed arms glistening ominously. Glaring coldly at the approaching enemies, Eve's eyes narrowed and she pointed sharply.

"Oberon."

In a slick stream of silver, Oberon sliced through the charging nasod, spinning back to face his opponents as sparks and fire burst from their shredded chests. With his targets destroyed, Oberon returned to Eve's side and awaited her next command. Breathing sharply as the cacophony of pounding metal and hissing steam flooded the air around her, Eve stepped forward and opened her console.

"The elevator to the core is on the bottom level of the foundry. Do not hesitate to destroy anything you see on the way there. The nasod have no use of weapons."

"Are you sure?" Rena glanced aside at Eve as she shot a slew of arrows into an oversized electric lathe. "Can't you use all of this to help you rebuild once this is all over?"

"No..." Eve shook her head as she swept her hands out and her drones tore through a row of half-finished nasod miners. "This factory... it has caused too much harm already." She stole a quick glance over at Raven as he slashed through a conveyor belt with a single stroke, keeping the casual pace of his companions as they crushed, pierced, and torched everything in sight. His eyes were cold and focused as they moved forward, reflecting the powerful resolve that had tempered his spite and rage into a solemn, unwavering purpose. Though she did not fully understand Raven's fierce determination, Eve was at least able to recognize that he, as well as many other humans, had suffered greatly as a result of the weapons and machines produced by the nasod foundry. Though it would take even longer to rebuild Altera with the foundry in ruins, she accepted it as a necessary sacrifice, both to win back the possibility of peace with humanity and to wash away the brutality and strife that had been forced upon her people.

Though the air around them bristled with flames and nasod soldiers piled into the corridors to block their path, no one seemed to be in any sort of a hurry. It wasn't exhaustion or overconfidence that had Elsword and Aisha smashing and burning equipment as they sauntered slowly through the foundry but rather a calculated reserve. With the Core almost upon them and an army of thousands stationed somewhere on the island, they knew they'd need every ounce of strength possible. For Raven, however, their pacing and progress were among the least of his present concerns. Now that he was inside the factory that had made the Black Crow, now that he had in his hands the machines used to create his arm, he felt an overwhelming, incomplete sense of relief. Finally, after falling from the sky and crawling out of the earth, he could remove the menace that threatened this world and, after that was done, perhaps he could go back to doing what he hadn't been able to do for Five* years now: Living. The more he thought about the scar torn through Velder, the wound ripped open by his own hands, the more certain he was that atonement and absolution were things that he could never hope to receive. More than that, he didn't think it would be right for him to be forgiven when he hadn't completely forgiven himself. Instead, he swung his blade in a smooth, swift arc and cut a clear path through the nasod and their weapons, removing any chance that another would follow the course that had brought him here. Although he had moved beyond anguish and self-loathing, Raven wanted to keep the memory of his crimes close at hand, to bear their weight with every step he took and every strike of his blade. If he could prevent even half as much harm as he had caused in the past, then, as he saw it, even his life would be one worth protecting. Still, he had a lingering, nagging worry on his mind, the result of what Chief Adel had told him just before he left the Ponggo's village, but for now, he was focused firmly on dismantling as much of the nasod war machine as he could.

As Rena mowed down the last active nasod in the narrow passage where they now stood, Eve opened her console and connected to the foundry's security systems. The moment she gained access to the unremarkable steel door at the end of the hall, her eyes went wide and she opened it immediately. As it happened, the door's security code was completely accurate: The vast, dimly lit chamber before them was the foundry's hangar bay.

"...Whoa." Elsword stared in awe at no fewer than three hundred pristine, fully armed airships, each an exact replica of the Black Crow.

"They're planning an invasion, aren't they..." Rena's voice sank and faded to a whisper as she moved into the shadow of a colossal warship. "With this many ships, Velder would be forced to surrender inside of an hour."

"No." Raven glared darkly at the grand gallery of cannons above. "Surrender would do them no good. I don't know why, but this arm of mine really wanted me to destroy the entire kingdom. For some reason, the nasod want Velder completely ruined."

His words sank in slowly, though no one could find any fault in them. With three hundred warships roaring across the sky, Velder would become a burning shell of sulfur and ash after just a single round of artillery fire.

Leaning against the rails and studying the ships intently, Aisha suddenly stumbled across the solution to one of their most persistent problems. "Wait, Eve, are any of these ready to fly?"

After a brief consultation with her console, Eve nodded. "Yes, all ships are fully operational. Do you mean to use them to transport your El?"

"Ah, yes, that would be the best way." Rena placed her finger on her cheek and pondered. "Well, really, it's probably the only way. We don't exactly have options here."

"I will commandeer one ship and send it to wait at the Ponggo village." Eve entered a few commands into her console and a single ship at the head of the fleet growled and grumbled as its engines burst into action and the hangar bay doors opened onto the endless sky. By the time they had reached the end of the hangar and arrived at the next corridor, their stolen airship was well on its way to the other side of the island. When Eve moved to open the next door, however, Raven stayed back and eyed her suspiciously.

"You're not going to just leave those ships there, are you?"

"The high concentration of volatile fuel in each vessel would make destroying or even disarming them a fatal exercise." Eve closed her console and the door ahead opened with a grating moan. "We will have to dismantle them separately when we have more time."

"Hm..." Raven kept his gaze on Eve, his stern scowl set firm as he stepped into the next chamber. As they left the hangar bay, a relentless curiosity plagued his thoughts; though he had little understanding of nasod technology, he was certain that Eve had sent some sort of command to the fleet in the hangar. With a new wave of nasod soldiers approaching from the end of the hall, he breathed in slowly and tried to shake the lingering doubts from his mind. Leaping forward, he pushed past Elsword and Eve and thrust his blade into the nearest nasod, piercing its gut and pinning it to the wall. As the next nasod approached, he reached forward and seized its head with his left arm, pulling it down toward his sword and severing its neck in a burst of sparks and fire. As he ripped his blade from the wall and bounded forward, he crossed into a wide intersection with nasod rushing toward him from both sides. Stepping back quickly, he pressed himself against the wall and glanced back.

"Rena!"

Nodding swiftly, Rena rushed forward and knelt down, filling the air with arrows and tearing through the nasod as they rounded the corner. In the following calm, Elsword grimaced slightly.

"Hey, leave some for us to. It's kinda boring back here."

Raven glanced aside and gave a faint, wry smile. "Don't be so slow next time."

Grinning, Elsword scoffed lightly as he reached the end of the hall. "Heh... what was that, old man?"

"If you two don't hurry up, we'll leave you both behind." A smug grin painted Aisha's face as she passed them and headed on toward the center of the foundry. Before she could gain anymore ground, Rena called a halt to her march.

"Wait..." She stood at the intersection and stared quietly at the small, flashing letters that ran across the wall. "Eve, what's in this direction?"

"..." Eve hesitated, shifting her eyes uncomfortably as she read the crawling text. When she finally turned to answer Rena, she lowered her voice to a thin whisper. Although Aisha couldn't tell exactly what Eve had said, the effect of her words was immediate, capturing Raven's attention and freezing his feet in place as his breath caught in his throat. Without a moment's pause, he turned around and headed back toward Eve and Rena. "Fine. We'll go this way then. "

Rena stared softly as Raven passed by, a delicate, graceful severity in her eyes. "...Eve, do both of these paths lead to the Core?"

A quick check of her console brought confirmation."...Yes. Both paths will lead to the Core elevator."

Rena nodded. "Then, Elsword, Aisha, you two should go that way. We'll take care of everything on this side, and there shouldn't be as many nasod in your way if they have to split up and fight us on two fronts."

Aisha frowned, but accepted almost immediately. "Alright, just be careful, okay?" She turned and scoffed as she caught sight of Elsword's face, his eyes blank and his mouth wrinkled up in confusion. "Hey, pay attention! Come on!"

"Ow, hey!" Elsword winced as Aisha grabbed his shoulder and tugged him along down the hall, disappearing around the corner and leaving Raven, Rena, and Eve to navigate the frighteningly sterile passage down to the Human Subjects Test Facility.

* * *

Secreted away from the mechanical clamor of the factory floor, a slender, pallid doorway marked the entrance to a grisly vault of silenced screams and synthetic horrors. With a whole platoon of maimed nasod soldiers littering the ground outside of the lab, Raven pulled open the smooth steel door and stepped into a realm of blinding light and frigid shadows. With tall, thick windows on every wall, each room along the nearly endless hall stood in clear view and each an immaculate, seemingly untouched masterpiece of callous precision. As Eve and Rena walked along ruining every surgical suite and supply room they came across, Raven stayed his blade and searched for something that he knew he would never find. These sterile rooms, these pristine floors, these clean and unscathed tools, they were nothing like the bloodied knives that had cut into his side or the fearsome saws that had torn away his arm. Nothing in the entire lab remained as a testament to what Raven had suffered and, far more importantly in his eyes, nothing remained to testify to the suffering of the countless others that had been captured, cut open, and then discarded as failures.

The very thought that hundreds of lives could be lost in a place so far from the battlefield and then all evidence of death and decay erased so neatly and so thoroughly set Raven in a mood more foul than any he had known in the past year. As he reached the end of the hallway, he stood before a large storage chamber, the only room in the entire facility with no windows and no obvious surveillance. With a quick punch, he broke through the heavy lock and peeled back the door. Inside, amid clouds of mist and blasts of icy air, over three hundred jagged, disembodied mechanical arms hung down from the ceiling, their claws clattering anxiously against one another as Raven approached. Standing in their midst, it felt as though a great crowd was calling out to him, shouting, screaming, and drowning in its own overwhelming discord. Regret, rage, spite, sorrow, guilt, and disdain bubbled up through Raven's consciousness, spilling over onto his face and painting it with a firm, bitter scowl. After a moment of clutching his sword and glaring fiercely, he closed his eyes and scoffed, not at the nasod arms but at himself.

_All of this spite and bitterness over a pile of metal and wires? Heh... now it makes sense. If I can get so worked up about something petty like this, it's no wonder I was such a wreck. Remember Raven, you didn't come here to feel sorry for yourself, to get revenge, or to take out your frustrations. You came here to do just one thing... Don't screw it up._

Holding his right hand steady, Raven stepped back and held his blade down at his side, ignoring the nasod arms and focusing on the edge of his sword and the weight of his feet. In a single, fluid surge, Raven moved from the front of the room to the back in the breadth of a second, sheathing his sword calmly as every nasod arm burst open and fell to the ground in a crumpled pile of broken steel and severed circuits. When Raven returned to the hallway, Rena greeted him with a smooth, gentle smile.

"All done here?"

Raven closed his eyes for just a moment and nodded. "Yeah, let's get going."

Eve and Oberon destroyed the last of the test chambers and joined Raven and Rena at the end of the hall, leading them down a flight of stairs and into the large, open cavern that housed the elevator to the Core. While Raven and Rena stood guard, Eve hurried to override the elevator's control scheme, preparing it to ferry them to and from the core at her command. As soon as she was finished and the path to the Core was open to them, three faint shadows rose from a narrow corridor and quickly descended upon them.

* * *

The roaring thunder of bursting steel rang out through the heart of the foundry as Aisha and Elsword continued their rampage through the factory, unfettered and free to tear through the ranks of the nasod with a bold abandon. As thick, caustic smoke and howling flames filled the air, Elsword pushed through a pair of shield-bearing nasod, sliding around behind them and blasting them with a sharp stream of fire. A low, tortured groan rained down from the roof and Elsword looked up just in time to see a massive girder falling prey to gravity and plummeting toward him. When he tried to roll away, his foot fell into a nest of broken pipes, holding him fast and causing him to fall gracelessly to the ground. As the shadow of a three ton beam enveloped him, Aisha dove forward, grabbed Elsword's hand, and teleported away with him just as the girder crashed to the ground with a deafening boom.

"What are you... doing...pay..." Aisha huffed and panted, more from panic than exhaustion, "...more attention."

"I- Yeah..." Elsword turned away, his chest tight and tense for reasons unknown to him, "Thanks."

With his safety confirmed, Aisha leapt down from the pile of rubble where they had landed and continued pelting the maze of assembling lines and machine presses with a shower of crackling dark energy. For a moment, Elsword stood, stunned. Aisha had saved him dozens of times before, and he'd done the same for her as well. Feeling her reach out and pull him to safety way was nothing new or unfamiliar, but just recently, it was getting harder for him to look at her afterwards. Somehow, when she grasped his hand pulled him away from the rubble, his concentration shattered and he couldn't focus himself for a few seconds after. As he finally gathered himself and dove back into the fray, a quick glimmer of steel caught his eye and he turned to see a pair of nasod snipers taking aim at Aisha. Jumping up onto the tattered shell of a ruptured boiler and running along a narrow pipe, he swung his blade out swiftly and smashed both nasod into a monstrous pit of molten, bubbling iron. Whether he knew it or not, he was keeping an eye on her throughout every battle since they arrived on Altera, watching her back and following her movements, and for every time that death was nearly upon them, she somehow made him feel like it was still miles away.

Fighting furiously to break through the hasty barricades that blocked their exit, Aisha hurled a pair of dark, jagged stones through the air and sent them burrowing through the mound of metal bars and overturned barrels. With every step and every strike they drew closer to the Core and closer to Ruben's El, but even though her legs felt lighter now than ever and confidence was high, Aisha felt the slightest of worries scratching at the corners of her mind. In the middle of the crumbling, collapsing foundry, she paused for just a second, for just the smallest fraction of a moment and began to wonder just what she would be doing after they retrieved Ruben's El.

_Gah, what a pointless question! I don't have time for that now!_ Shaking her head out, Aisha raised her wand and tried to regain her focus only to lose it for another half second as she wondered just why she would be worried about what happened after they were finished rescuing the El in the first place. Unfortunately, in just two tiny moments on the battlefield, things can change quite drastically. While Aisha brushed aside her concerns, a spinning drone circled in blades darted through the air toward her, closing in far too quickly for her to react. In the instant before the nasod's blades cut through the wispy strands of her sweat-stained hair, Elsword raised his blade in a wide arc, launching the drone through the air and out of a small gap in the ceiling. As soon as Aisha turned around, Elsword admonished her.

"What're you doing? Don't worry about what's behind you, I'll take care of all that." He turned quickly and clashed against a pair of assault soldiers, holding them off while Aisha finished clearing the barricade ahead. Somehow, she felt strangely safe and reassured. No matter what she was doing or how busy she was dealing with a dozen nasod and a walls that were on the verge of collapsing around her, she could always see Elsword out of the corner of her eye, darting across the field and covering every gap in her defense. Whether she knew it or not, she was keeping an eye on him throughout every battle since they arrived on Altera, watching his back and following his movements, and for every time that he had saved her, she had also been there to pull him from the fire.

Just as a new wave of nasod poured into the room and moved to surround them, Aisha finally broke through the barricade and grabbed Elsword by the arm, dragging him along as she dove into the hallway. As she tumbled to the ground, Aisha threw out a sharp burst of dark magic that ripped through the ceiling's final supports, sending it crashing down onto the nasod and sealing the corridor behind them. Before they could catch their breath and drink their last skins of water, a violent clash and a ferocious shout echoed through the hall and settled in their ears. Both of them immediately identified the owner of that voice.

"That's Raven!" Elsword climbed up to his feet as the fierce symphony of scraping steel filled the air. "Come on!"

Dashing frantically through the narrow hall, Aisha and Elsword followed the sounds of a desperate struggle until they finally emerged into the vast chasm carved into the mountain's feet. At the back of the cavern, they could just scarcely see Raven and Oberon locked in combat with a pair of shadowy nasod as the lights overhead flickered off one by one. The moment Elsword stepped out into the open, a blur of red and silver bolted from the shadows and bowled him over. He rolled aside and just barely pulled his face from the edge of a heavy blade, pushing himself off the ground and hopping to his feet. Before he could even catch a glimpse of his attacker, a savage claw sped through the air toward him, stopping just short of his throat as Aisha blocked it with her wand. Another quick flash of silver cut through the shadows just as the last of the cavern's light quit the field and Elsword hurried to raise his blade, stumbling backward under the force of a powerful blow.

"Elsword, we need some light!" Aisha shouted over her shoulder as she struggled to wrench her wand free from the vice grip of her attacker. Twisting quickly, they each conjured a massive fireball and hurled it into the ceiling, each colliding with glistening stone and splitting into a hundred tiny torches that hovered in the air overhead and bathed the cavern in a spectral glow. With the firelight stripping away the shadows, the alien form of a slender nasod emerged from the darkness. Painted in scarlet and jet, the unrelenting soldier spun its arms wildly and threw Elsword and Aisha up against the wall, raising its left arm and firing a roaring burst of flame toward them. As they dove aside and scraped their arms on the rugged cavern floor, Aisha was finally able to survey the rest of the cavern. In the far corner, standing atop a massive elevator platform, Rena and Eve dashed across the field in a rush to evade two nasod identical to the one attacking Aisha and Elsword and, in the midst of the chamber, Raven and Oberon traded blows with two more nasod as the air resounded with the echoes of sharpened steel.

Gasping for air and dripping with sweat, Elsword stumbled up to his feet and charged toward the dreaded nasod, putting all his power behind a single swing as he and his opponent passed one another. A firm weight against his blade told Elsword that he had made clear contact, but as he turned around to fire off a cloud of flame, an agonizing pain shot through his right arm as a thin gash opened along its length. Standing firm and in the open, the nasod cast the blood from his blade and looked down at the pathetic scratch Elsword had made in its side. Although Aisha stepped in to intercept a barrage of frenzied slashes, Elsword could already tell that everyone was losing ground quickly. Fighting each of these monstrosities one on one, or even two on one, was bringing them all dangerously close to an untimely death. As the nasod jumped back to launch another burst of flame, Elsword sprinted across the cavern and grabbed Aisha by the waist, picking her up and pulling her along as he ran toward Rena and Eve. As soon as they were clear of the fireball's path, Elsword noticed Raven and Oberon approaching from the corner of his eye and he quickly realized that they were all being pushed back into the same sunken corner, the perfect place for a row of nasod to pin them down with a merciless rain of fire and ash. With their backs flush against cold stone, everyone searched their surroundings in a desperate attempt to revise their tactics.

Laying out a faint magic shield to buy precious time, Aisha held her wand steady as the five nasod slammed their claws into her barrier. "What are these things? They're way worse than any of the other nasod so far! And why do they look so much like Raven?"

"They do not simply look like him." Eve breathed heavily as she scanned their enemies for any sign of weakness or defect. "They were created using the data gathered from Raven's nasod arm when it was still acting on its own. Their fighting style is based on an algorithm of his most effective techniques."

Rena smiled awkwardly as she dug her feet into the ground. "While I can think a few situations where having six Ravens might be useful, we could really do without the extras here. Does anybody have any ideas other than bashing them over the head till they die?"

Eve shook her head and closed her console. "They are heavily armed and extremely fast. Physical force would likely be deflected with minimal damage."

Elsword scowled as he grabbed a hold of Aisha's wand to help her reinforce the fragile barrier. "Then how the hell're we-"

"Wait." Raven stepped forward and glared sharply at the vicious nasod. "If they're built to fight just like me, then they've got a huge weakness that they won't be able to cover."

"Oh?" Rena glanced aside at him deviously. "You have such an obvious weak point?"

Raven grinned faintly. "They're based on the way I fought when I was commanding the Black Crow. Back then, whenever I was in the line of a powerful attack, I'd freeze up on purpose in the hopes that it would kill me."

"That..." Eve blinked, confounded. "...is not a very efficient tactic."

Raven chuckled faintly. "Humans have their foolish moments."

"Can you guys hurry it up?" Aisha shouted rapidly between labored breaths as broad cracks opened across the barrier's surface. "We've only got about eight seconds!"

"Alright, ready?" Rena looked over to Raven and Eve as they nodded back to her. The moment the barrier shattered, Rena raised her bow and unleashed a tiny pocket of compressed air that exploded in the midst of the nasod, bombarding them with thousands of piercing gusts. Just as Raven suspected, the instant Rena attacked, every one of the nasod froze in place and their arms went limp. With barely a half second before the razor wind exhausted itself, Raven and Oberon rushed forward, standing side by side as they dashed across the row of nasod, their blades reflecting the warm firelight as they sliced through each of their opponents more than a dozen times. As they reached the end of the line, they each straightened themselves up, lowered their blades, and glanced back over their shoulders as each nasod fell to its knees and then collapsed in a pool of oil and battery acid.

"Oh, you're right." Rena blinked and stared at the defeated nasod, only slightly surprised. "That was pretty easy."

Raven winced slightly at her words while he sheathed his sword. "That was just the way I fought in the past. I'd never do something that stupid now."

"Are you sure you don't have any other weaknesses though?" Rena smirked slyly, "Like tripping on wrinkled carpets or losing arguments against old ladies?"

"That-" Raven looked away indignantly. "That was just once. I didn't think you were even paying attention when I told you..."

Aisha turned to Raven and shook her head. "You shouldn't tell her anything thing like if you don't want her to use it against you then."

"Exactly" Rena grinned broadly and latched her bow onto her belt. "Well then... I guess there's no point in putting it off. Is everybody ready?"

In the fading firelight, everyone nodded slowly and they all made their way to the grand elevator and waited while Eve powered up its massive, rumbling engine. Gradually, the creaking rust crumbled from the elevator's rails and its gears began to spin as loudly as a cannon's report. Gathering their strength, the Queen of the Nasod and her entourage sank slowly into the shadows as they descended into Altera's Core.

* * *

Please see rhblithely. tumblr. com for my author's notes, there are a few for this chapter.


	32. Within the Core

Within the Core

* * *

The alternating rhythm of spinning gears echoed through the elevator shaft as narrow bands of light swept across Eve's face. At her side, Aisha and Elsword stared anxiously as the jagged rock walls faded away beneath a smooth, silvery veneer of cobalt and steel. Behind them, Raven and Rena waited cautiously, their skin tightening as the temperature plummeted and the elevator's even cadence slowed. As they reached the end of their descent, a wave of frosted light flooded the air and a vast expanse of silvery blue steel spread out before them. With her breath a faint mist, Eve stepped out into the unearthly realm of gleaming lights and cold reflections.

"This is it. We have arrived at Altera's Core. Please proceed with caution."

Eve led the way as everyone else abandoned the elevator and followed her through a wide, empty corridor. The further they traveled into the Core, the more advanced and alien its design and construction became. Doors and platforms were crafted from some material far lighter than metal and yet stronger than stone, the walls and floor resisted frost even though the air was so frigid it felt as if it could snap, and an array of wandering lights coursed through the hallway. So far, despite the heavy resistance they had encountered in the foundry, there was no sign of even a single nasod in the Core and a stunning silence held the air, breaking only at the sound of soft footfalls and chattering teeth. As they neared a fork in the path, Eve approached the nearest wall and opened her console.

"These branching pathways shift frequently. I will need to check the layout of the Core before we proceed. Please wait one moment." She scanned over the screens hovering before her as Oberon stood guard at her side.

"I thought there would be a lot more fighting down here..." Aisha held a small flame in her hands, siphoning as much warmth from it as she could to stave off the pervasive cold. "Do you think they've set a trap somewhere?"

"That is not likely." Eve typed furiously as she burrowed deeper into the Core's primary systems. "The Core is a delicate place. Security has always been higher here than anywhere else on the island but the risk of damage to the Core's systems makes it impractical to maintain a constant patrol. Most likely, we will be safe so long as we do not activate any of the Core's security sensors."

With his arms folded impatiently, Elsword began marching down the western hallway. "If this is gonna take a while I'm gonna go scout ahead."

"Elsword, wait." Rena reached out toward him, but he was already out of reach. "This place is too dangerous to risk getting separated. I know you want to hurry, but we won't make it through if we don't take our time."

Scowling, Elsword acquiesced and turned around reluctantly, trudging back toward the fork in the hallway. As he returned, his boots caught on a small ledge and he tripped, falling forward just as a bright, iridescent red beam materialized before him.

"Elsword!" Aisha rushed forward to catch him and he fell against her clumsily, only after he had passed through the security sensor and a shrill siren rang out through the air.

"Everyone, stay close together!" Eve shouted over the shrieking alarms, but her warning came far too late. The very instant Elsword had fallen through the security beam, two massive partitions fell from the ceiling to seal off each branch of the corridor, trapping Elsword and Aisha behind two feet of titanium and blocking the path back toward the elevator. As the sirens died down, Eve rushed toward the fallen gate and pressed her hand against it.

"Aisha, can you hear me?"

Aisha strained her ears and held her face close to the door. "Yes, just barely. Can you get us out of here?"

Eve shook her head lightly. "No. Or rather, I will not have time. In the next twenty seconds, a large group of nasod will be deployed to your position. The paths should join again on the second level. Please try to hold on until we are able to reach you."

"Your timing's way off!" Elsword dodged to the side as a pair of gargantuan nasod stormed down the hall and charged toward him. "They're already here."

As Elsword squared off against the guardians in the sealed corridor, the sharp clash of steel rang out behind Eve and she turned to see Rena and Raven fending off a pack of nasod soldiers. Frantic, she turned back toward the heavy door and shouted.

"Aisha, there is an elevator at the end of the path ahead of you. Take it to the second level and we should be able to join you again there..." Stepping aside, Eve narrowly avoided a heavy bladed arm, sending Oberon out to maim its owner with a swift wave. "...Please be careful."

"Nn..." Aisha scowled and hopped away from the door, turning to face the oncoming swarm with a swirling sphere of fire and darkness melting together in her hands. The moment she rushed forward to join the fray, however, a loud crash split the icy air as a giant nasod shield slammed into the side of Elsword's head, throwing him to the ground and knocking his sword across the floor and into the crowd of nasod. After throwing out a quick burst of dark flame to distract their attackers, Aisha rushed over to Elsword's side just as his limbs went limp and his eyes fell shut.

"Elsword! Elsword, get up! Elsword!" She knelt at his side and shook him to no avail. Standing to face the frenzied mob of nasod now nearly two dozen strong, Aisha scowled fiercely with fire in her eyes as she gazed out at the sea of lifeless eyes trained upon her.

"Alright, you want to take us on?" She broadened her stance and placed herself between Elsword and the ruthless horde. "I swear, it'll be the last thing you ever do!"

Heedless of her warning, a wall of screaming steel rushed toward her as Aisha hurled a powerful blast of flame through the air, exploding violently and bathing the room in a stark, blinding white.

* * *

When Elsword was finally able to pry his eyes open, all he could see was a swirl of smoke and the charred entrails of a monstrous nasod. As the air cleared, a grisly scene emerged from the fog of ash and fire; mounds of broken machine parts and nasod limbs littered the corners of the hall, surrounding Elsword with a heap of mangled mechanical corpses. Just ahead of him, standing before a mass of moving steel and glowing eyes, Aisha panted heavily as her legs quivered and her shoulders sank.

_Damn it... how long was I out? She's not gonna last long like this..._Elsword tried to raise his head but his neck wouldn't move and his arms felt as heavy as lead. A faint red gleam caught his eye and he glanced down to see the edge of his sword, buried in a heap of tattered gears and broken nasod. When he tried to reach out and pull himself across the ground, his fingers shook violently and his arms refused to obey him. As he gathered his strength to call out to Aisha, he found that even his voice failed him and the most he could manage was a quiet gasp that suffocated amid the torrent of whirling gears and scraping steel at the edge of the room.

Facing down a now cautious company of nasod soldiers, Aisha forced the sharp pain in her arms and legs to the back of her mind. After nearly fifteen minutes of constant fighting against an endless stream of nasod, her body was about to give out on her. Scowling bitterly as she gasped for breath, she let her wand slip out of her trembling fingers and lowered her head. The harsh cadence of a troop of nasod riflemen cut through the dense crowd as another two dozen soldiers filled the hall, pointing their heavy cannons at Aisha and shouting a single, disembodied command.

"SURRENDER. SURRENDER. SURRENDER. SURRENDER."

"Tch..." Aisha scoffed and bit her bottom lip, her voice rasping and weak as she spoke. "Do you know how much we went through to get here? Do you know how many times we've been hurt on our way here? And you think... we'll just give up..."

"YOU HAVE THIRTY SECONDS TO COMPLY. SURRENDER. TWENTY-NINE. TWENTY-EIGHT..."

Aisha coughed as she raised her hands at her side and straightened her spine, struggling for a single, deep breath. "...I can't believe I have to go this far just because you had to get yourself knocked out. Seriously Elsword, you can be really rude sometimes..." A wry smile spread across her face as the air around her filled with the ferocious crackling of raw magic. As her hair fluttered wildly and she gathered all the strength she had left, the nasod continued their count as they prepared to open fire with nearly a hundred guns. Just before they reached zero, Aisha's eyes sprang open and she glared fiercely as she reached forward and snapped her fingers. In that instant, the air filled with a ghostly red glow as more than a dozen brilliant beams of fiery plasma shot through the nasod's ranks, spinning and slicing through steel as though it were a thin sheet of ice. In the space of a single second, Aisha had cleared the field ahead of her and left only the molten shells of the nasod and a thin layer of grey smoke. As soon as the gleam of magic faded from around her, Aisha fell to the floor, unconscious.

With his voice still frail and faint, Elsword whispered Aisha's name frantically as he wheezed and gasped. Still unable to move the majority of his body, he tried to claw his way across the floor as he stared anxiously at Aisha.

_Get up! You can't- _A sharp pain shot through his side and halted his progress, causing him to wince and bury his forehead in the ground. _You can't be finished already. Damn it... Aisha, get up!_

As the sound of pounding feet spilled through the air, Elsword's heart sank. Even after Aisha had destroyed so many dozens of nasod, there were still more on their way. As Aisha lay motionless on the floor, another six nasod soldiers rushed into the room and circled around her. After hesitating for a moment, they approached her slowly and began talking to some unseen authority.

"INTRUDER IS DISABLED AND IN ADEQUATE PHYSIOLOGICAL CONDITION. AWAITING FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS."

"...Hmm..." A thunderous roar fell from the sky as if the sky itself had collapsed onto the mountain above. "...Her capabilities intrigue me. Retrieve that one and bring it to the secondary lab. Dispose of the other as you see fit."

"UNDERSTOOD."

The nasod on point returned its rifle to a slender sheath on its back and knelt to the ground, sliding its arms delicately beneath Aisha's back and lifting her from the floor. As the nasod turned to ferry Aisha away, a sharp, swift clattering rang out through the corridor and rushed toward them. When the nasod holding Aisha turned around, Elsword was already gripping its arm and glaring defiantly into its single, glowing eye.

"Get away from her, now." He punched the nasod just above the stomach, blasting through its body with a searing flame. As the nasod's arms buckled and broke away, Elsword dove forward and caught Aisha, rolling to the ground and shielding her as they fell. As his bones burned with a crippling pain, Elsword gently lowered Aisha's head to the ground and then stumbled up to his feet. The five remaining nasod turned and leveled their rifles at Elsword, soon joined by another dozen soldiers who lined up a few yards behind him. Despite being surrounded and scarcely able to stand, Elsword's eyes were filled with a bitter rage that he was just beginning to understand.

"...What the hell... do you think you're doing?" His eyes narrowed as he glared menacingly at the nasod, his voice barely a whisper over their blaring warnings and inevitable countdown.

"TWENTY-SIX. TWENTY-FIVE..."

Elsword coughed and nearly faltered as he struggled to regain his balance. "Just shut up. Don't you dare try to touch her. You don't have any right... Do you even know how strong Aisha is? She just ripped apart a hundred of you all like you were nothing. Do you know how many times she's had to save me now?"

"SEVENTEEN. SIXTEEN. FIFTEEN..."

"...way too many. Damn it... she's always like that. What the hell is wrong with her... she'd be fine if she didn't have to waste her time keeping me alive..."

"NINE. EIGHT. SEVEN."

Hearing the countdown drawing to a close, Elsword clenched his fists tightly and his voice dripped with contempt. "Shut the hell up! You wanna take her away? Come try it! I'll rip your face off before you get inside of ten feet!"

"THREE. TWO. ONE. OPEN FIRE." As every nasod fired on Elsword in unison, he finally finished a desperate incantation. The moment cannon blasts reached him, a radiant glow filled the air around him as a blazing phoenix enveloped him with its wings. As the nasod continued their relentless barrage, every shot melted softly into the phoenix's feathers, feeding its flames and wrapping Elsword in a flickering scarlet veil. Drawing in energy from the nasod's attack, Elsword felt his legs lighten and he was finally able to breath deeply.

Realizing that their weapons were failing them, the nasod discarded their cannons and drew a pair of slender blades from their backs as rushed toward Elsword. Leaping forward immediately, Elsword reached up and grabbed the nearest nasod's face as he flew past, burning through the nasod's eyes as he forced its head back and threw it to the ground. Sliding across the floor, he grabbed the handle of his sword, pulling it from a smoldering heap and swinging out sharply to knock back the charging nasod. At Aisha's side, an unarmed nasod reached down to scoop her up only to have a shining ethereal blade tear through its chest and sever its arms. Taking the time to guard her had forced Elsword to drop his guard, leaving him exposed as the nasod surrounded him. Gritting his teeth, he jumped up and kicked off of a charging nasod's blade, rising high into the air and bathing his blade in a shroud of flame. As he fell, he thrust his blade into the ground and an overpowering explosion ripped through the air and hurled the nasod into the walls, twisting their bodies and smashing their limbs into a ruined heap.

Breathing heavily as sweat poured across his bow, Elsword latched his blade onto his back and hurried over to Aisha's side.

"Aisha! Aisha!" He knelt down and shook her shoulders, drawing out only the slightest sigh from Aisha's lips.

"Aisha, come on, get up!" An anxious pain twisted Elsword's face, his heart racing and sinking all at once as Aisha's face rolled to the side, her consciousness still far away from her. Scowling as tension spread through his chest, Elsword slid his arms beneath Aisha's back and legs, lifting her off the ground and holding her tightly.

_Damn it... _Elsword stared down at disheveled tufts of hair that fell across Aisha's face and forced his feet forward, holding Aisha against him as he stumbled over the corpses of a hundred shattered nasod. As he ran, a deafening screech shook the ceiling and the cold shadow of a partition wall descended upon them. Without preparation or thought, Elsword rolled to the ground, wrapping his arms around Aisha and sliding on his shoulder across the floor and beneath the gate just before it slammed into the ground. While Elsword hefted Aisha up into his arms, the ever present clattering of the nasod approached once again. Straining to cradle Aisha in one arm, he held his ground and stomped on the floor, raising a forest of fiery blades to tear through the relentless guards. With the field clear, even if only for a moment, Elsword breathed deeply and rushed toward the end of the hall, searching aimlessly for the elevator that would lead back to where Rena, Raven, and Eve awaited them.

After nearly ten minutes of scouring the Core and finding little more than an endless, vacant hall, Elsword propped Aisha up against the wall and sat down beside her. As the quiet whisper of her breath spilled across his ears, he began to wonder just he was trying to accomplish. Elsword had spent the last ten minutes smashing through nasod, letting himself be hit needlessly when his attacker would have surely missed if he had only stepped aside or jumped back. His nerves were shot; each time a nasod closed in on him, he panicked, guarding Aisha fiercely and accepting certain injury to his back and arms just to avoid the possibility that she would be hurt. His thoughts were a mess that he couldn't begin to untangle and he stared down at his trembling hands as cold sweat dripped from his face.

_What the hell's wrong with me? I can't focus... _He held his hands together and tried to draw out a small flame to warm the frigid air but the most he could manage was a flickering spark that faded into the icy mist of his breath. _Damn it... Damn it! At this rate... are we really gonna make it out? If I'm gonna be this useless and stupid in a fight, we're just about finished... _A soft weight fell against him as Aisha slumped over and her head rolled onto his shoulder, shocking Elsword and making him blush and scowl. _Tch... this was the worst time to start thinking __like that... Ah, damn it! I keep freezing up when she's about to get hurt... I'm so useless right now._

Averting his eyes as Aisha fell further onto him, Elsword stared anxiously down the empty hall. "Aisha, hurry and wake up. If you stay like that much longer, I'm not gonna make it. If you just wake up, I'll stop complaining about all the stupid stuff you make me read, and I'll stop arguing when you do stuff I don't understand... I'll even stop..." His voice dropped and he began mumbling beneath his breath. "...pretending I don't like you... cause... if you don't wake up soon-"

A loud hum flooded the air and drowned out Elsword's feeble whispers as a large panel in the ceiling drew back and released a swarm of nasod drones just as a dense mob of armed soldiers emerged from the end of the hall and charged forward. Scooping Aisha up into his arms, Elsword darted to the center of the hall and froze in the face of the overwhelming horde.

While the nasod rushed toward them as a solid mass of blades and steel, Aisha's eyes twitched and shuddered, opening slowly as she regained her strength and hopped down from Elsword's grasp.

"What... what's..." She stumbled to her feet, dizzy and disoriented. Seeing her faltering and unsteady, Elsword's hesitation melted away and he reached forward, grabbing Aisha's hand and pulling her toward him. As the shadow of the nasod enveloped them, Elsword chanted desperately as he held Aisha against him and squeezed her hand tightly. As soon as Aisha recognized the incantation, her eyes went wide and she pressed herself as close to Elsword as she could.

In the next instant, the air crackled and sparked, saturated with magic and a faint golden glow. As the nasod approached, a storm of jagged, shining blades blossomed around Elsword and Aisha, spinning swiftly and rending the nasod into a fine mist of wire and scrap metal. With each turn, another dozen blades erupted from the deadly spiral, leaving Aisha and Elsword in the narrow eye of a violent storm that scraped the walls and pierced the ceiling. As the spinning blades finally slowed, each shining sword shot out through the air in every direction and tearing through the remaining nasod. With his energy spent, Elsword sighed heavily and his legs quivered, leaving him off balance and leaning on Aisha and on the verge of collapse.

Before either of them could relax and regain their footing, a few straggling soldiers climbed up to their feet and charged forward, thrusting their blades straight at Elsword's back. In an instant, they were all swept away with a single stroke of pulsing dark energy that flew out from Aisha's hands. From overhead, a pair of drones whirled through the air toward Aisha's side, blades whistling in the wind as they sped toward her legs. With a single great crash, Elsword crushed both drones beneath his blade and scoffed as he shifted to the side and stood under his own power. Even now, without realizing it, they were still clutching each other's hand as they stared warily out at the rumbling piles of rubble in the corners of the room. As a few large, tattered nasod emerged from the broken masses, Elsword glowered and thrust his blade into the ground as Aisha placed her hand on its hilt, sending a massive wave of flame out in every direction and engulfing every visible nasod in a sea of smoldering ash and molten steel. With their lives finally safe and their survival secure, even if only for the moment, Aisha and Elsword dropped to the floor panted heavily, their backs pressed together as they wiped the sweat from their eyes.

As soon as the tide of his adrenaline receded, Elsword nearly choked on his own breath as he realized what he had just done. In fact, it was only in this moment that he finally let go of Aisha's hand and quickly pulled his own away.

"H-Hey... you okay?" He glanced aside, holding onto the unreasonable hope that Aisha had somehow failed to notice that he had been clutching her hand up until just a moment ago. Hearing no immediate answer, he began to panic and frantically searched for some sort of excuse for himself. "I just- I didn't wanna do that, okay? I just had to because of all the nasod, and cause-"

Aisha broke into his timid mumbling, giggling lightly and leaning her head back onto his shoulder so that the corners of their eyes could just barely meet. As his voice caught in his throat, a devious, satisfied grin spread across Aisha's face. "I thought you said you'd stop pretending you didn't like me if I woke up."

Elsword nearly toppled over from shock, his face a brighter red than the scarlet steel in his sword. "How'd you hear-" He stopped almost immediately. He suddenly remembered what had happened the last time he had fainted from magical exhaustion; a few moments of unconsciousness, followed by a few hours of being awake and aware, but entirely unable to move. Realizing that Aisha had heard everything, from the very beginning, he quickly turned away and blushed fiercely

"Nnngh... That's... It's none of your business! I can like whoever I want to!" He scowled sternly as he stared off into the corner, desperate to avoid Aisha's eyes.

"Oh?" Aisha smiled and pulled her head forward, tapping the ground near Elsword's hand. "So, then, if I can't complain about who you like... you won't get mad if I like whoever I want either, right?"

Elsword stammered out an incoherent mess of words before steadying himself and clearing his throat. "O-Of course not, why would I care?"

"Good." Aisha nodded and breathed in sharply. Somewhere in her mind, she was still struggling with the situation and still stunned at her own thoughts, but she concluded her negotiations quickly. _This is... really, really embarrassing, and... Ah! I don't care anymore! I know he's just a kid and kind of a brat sometimes, and really reckless and stupid and completely oblivious, but..._ She breathed in deeply and braced herself. "Y-you've lost all right to complain about this then." Before Elsword could object, Aisha reached over and took his hand, holding it tightly as she leaned back against him. In that instant, Elsword's jaw dropped open and a stream of startled gibberish escaped his lips as his eyes went wide and a pleasant panic overtook him. After almost a minute, he was finally able to form intelligible words again.

"W-W-What are you doing!?"

"I-it's fine, right?" Aisha's cheeks flushed brightly as she shifted about anxiously and her voice faded into a soft murmur. "W-Why can't we hold hands, if we both like each other..."

Hearing those words, Elsword's thoughts ground to a halt, his heart racing as his whole body tensed up and he squeezed Aisha's hand in return. Caught in a deluge of rushing blood and unchecked affections, Elsword swallowed hard and tried to stay as still as possible in spite of his quivering hands and trembling breath.

"H-hey, Elsword...?"

At Aisha's call, Elsword turned aside suddenly, not realizing that by doing so he placed his face only an inch away from hers. For a moment, they remained frozen in time, too stunned to move or speak.

Just then, a low groan echoed through the hall as a large partition opened up just behind them, revealing Eve with Oberon at her side. She took only a single step out into the hall before she spotted Aisha and Elsword, stopping in place and immediately turning around.

"... I apologize. I shall return when you two have finished."

Elsword and Aisha fell back and nearly rolled into the wall as they frantically scrambled up to their feet, pulling their hands apart and hiding them behind their backs or in their pockets.

"E-Eve! That was just-"

"It is alright. I am aware that humans are sensitive about such topics." She turned back toward Aisha and nodded. "I cannot say that I understand why you would do such a thing in this situation, but I am no longer surprised by eccentric human behaviors. Please take your time. I understand that courtship is very important to your species."

Elsword shook his head violently. "No, that's not what happened, we were just all sweaty and exhausted and needed a break so-"

Eve raised her hand to silence him. "There is no need to go into explicit detail. I will wait in the elevator. When you two are finished, Rena and Raven are waiting for us up ahead."

"E-Eve! It's not- We weren't doing anything like that!" Aisha chased after Eve, with Elsword hurrying along behind them. As they boarded the elevator, Elsword quickly realized that Eve's misunderstanding would soon be the least of their worries, even with an army of nasod bearing down on them.

"Whatever you do, don't tell Rena, okay?" Elsword glared firmly and Eve closed her eyes, nodding slowly.

"...Very well. I suppose humans prefer to keep these matters private. Oberon, be sure not to relay this information to Rena. Understood?"

Oberon shifted uncomfortably, nodding dubiously as he glanced aside at Elsword.

"Not one word." Elsword glowered at Oberon, locking eyes with him as the partition wall closed behind them and the elevator began its descent toward the lowest level of Altera's Core.


	33. The Cost of Victory

The Cost of Victory

* * *

Hoarse thunder shook the air as Raven wrenched a nasod's arm from its body and thrust his blade into its exposed shoulder. With a feeble moan, the last nasod on the mid-level corridor fell into silence and collapsed onto the floor, leaving Rena and Raven alone in the midst of a a wasteland of mangled machines and severed limbs. As they each emptied their last skin of water and caught their breath, the wall beside them creaked and groaned, opening to reveal Eve, Oberon, Aisha, and Elsword. Dropping her water, Rena ran to their side, smiling softly when she saw that they were well.

"Listen. You two..." Rena reached forward and wrapped her arms around them and sighed. "Don't ever do that again..."

"W-we're fine, really." Aisha glanced aside as Rena slid her hands away and stood back.

"I was a little worried since it took so long for you to get to the end of the hall. What were you two doing all that time?"

Eve turned to Rena plainly. "They were otherwise occupied with-"

"EVE!" Elsword and Aisha turned and glared at her sternly, their eyes scathing as she calmly corrected herself.

"...with recovering from a difficult battle. It appears that they encountered nearly twice the number of nasod as we found in the lower corridor..."

Rena glanced over to Elsword and Aisha, immediately evoking an apparent unease from both of them as she smiled brightly. "Well... I'm just glad you're alright then... Nothing else important happened on your way here then?"

Elsword shook his head swiftly and Aisha waved her hands in front of her. "No, of course not. We were too busy fighting nasod to notice anything else, so we just kept on fighting the entire time and then Eve found us and now we're here so that's all that happened." Once Aisha finished, Elsword shifted to a quick nod in agreement.

"Oh?" Rena blinked and stared at them calmly. "...I see. Let's get ourselves together then... we don't have much further to go before we reach the Core itself."

"R-right..." Aisha and Elsword joined Rena and hurried over to where Raven waited in the middle of a sea of smoldering nasod shells. With Eve and Oberon following far behind, Aisha and Elsword drifting toward one another and lowered their voices sharply.

"It doesn't seem like she noticed anything..." Aisha glanced away slightly, giving at least the slightest effort to appear casual as she whispered from the corner of her mouth.

"Yeah, but... it's Rena. There's no way she won't find out." Elsword grimaced and glared into an imaginary future, one in which he could clearly hear Rena's cheerful giggling and playful taunts. Despite the prospect of fighting a potentially endless army of nasod, Elsword and Aisha were far more terrified of Rena's devious grin.

Up ahead, Rena reached Raven's side and he chuckled faintly. "Just how long are you going to pretend you don't know what happened up there?"

"Oh, probably a few months~" Rena grinned broadly as she glanced back at Aisha and Elsword over her shoulder. "I know it's kind of selfish, but it's really cute watching them get flustered over one another and struggle to keep something so obvious a secret. Besides, it's probably something they'd want to tell me on their own terms, if they want me to know."

"Heh..." Raven smiled slightly. "I'm still not sure if being around you is reassuring or some new kind of insanity. I've never seen anyone this calm and carefree after being so close to dying so many times in the past hour."

As his words sank through the frozen air, Rena's jovial grin faded into a warm smile and a quiet, confident light scattered across her eyes. "That's how I've learned to deal with it, after a hundred years of fighting. This might be the last chance I get to tease them like that, and it might be the last time I can breath this easily." She stretched her hands out and then tilted her head toward the iridescent glow of the graven runes that hung from the walls. "I guess it really does look like I'm crazy though, like I don't take any of this seriously..."

"No." Raven looked up into Rena's eyes, his face stern and solemn as he searched their depth. "Not to anyone who knows you. It's just something I'm not used to. I've never thought that you could be happy while risking your life."

Rena glanced aside at him and smiled. "I doubt that. I'm sure you've had something that you would've been happy to risk your life for, and I'm sure you'll find something like that again. Right now, there's actually a lot for me to be happy about... If we can get the El back, we'll keep hundreds of people from starving to death, and we might even be able to help Eve save the nasod... If we can do that, it'd almost be a miracle, wouldn't it? The idea that I could do something that important, it makes me glad that I'm here."

Raven stared with a steady calm, his face unchanging but his thoughts alight as he poured over Rena's words and nodded slowly. "Then I'll see to it that you're not disappointed."

Rena smiled as she searched aimlessly for a reply, her words muddled by the sudden warmth and reassurance in Raven's voice. As if to save her from her silence, Elsword and Aisha finally arrived with Eve and Oberon close behind. With their smoke-stained skin bathed in florescence, each ragged wound and bloody scrape announced its presence clearly. From the shallow burns that wrapped around Rena's arms to the oozing gash carved into Raven's side, each wound bore witness to the death of a dozen nasod. The broken blisters on Elsword's palms, the swollen bruises on Aisha's back, and even the deep scratches that scarred Eve's hands were only the record of their wounds from the past hour, never mind the scars and scabs that had yet to heal from their time in transporting tunnel and beyond. Now, with their strength fading and their bones growing cold, they stood before the final door separating them from the center of the Core, from the stolen El, and from the King of the nasod.

The swelling gravity fell across everyone evenly, drawing down their smiles and hardening their gazes as Eve released the final layer of security protocols and coaxed the massive doors open. As the gaping jaws of the Core opened, a flood of frosted light poured out into the hall, bleaching the air and sweeping away the approaching shadows. The vault of the Core spread out for hundreds of yards in every direction, easily large enough to contain the twice the population of Velder and still have room for another thousand souls. The narrow ring of walkways around the edge of the chamber ended abruptly after only a dozen yards, giving way to the vast chasm that surrounded a colossal, pulsing sphere that throbbed and glistened softly from within a pale glass coffin. Even though Aisha had never seen even a crude drawing of it before, she knew instantly that this was what Eve meant when she kept referring to "The Core", the birth mother of all nasod. Hovering over the Core, a massive body of blue steel shifted and lurched forward, leaning forward and spreading its shadow out to encompass all that stood before it. Although she did not recognize the massive figure that loomed overhead, Eve knew that she was standing in the presence of her successor, the King Nasod. His body was wider than the largest battleships and his arms span the entire length of the chamber, each more massive than a castle's walls. Though his bulk and presence were both overwhelming, his body appeared to be largely incomplete; just above his waist, everything suddenly stopped and his solid form faded into a mess of exposed wires and unfinished mechanisms. As Elsword, Aisha, Rena, and Raven waited in expectation of an imminent attack, Eve stepped forward and glared sharply into King Nasod's glowing eyes.

Returning her critical gaze, King Nasod scoffed crudely as a voice deeper than the sea crashed down from the sky. "What has driven you to come this far, just to confront me? What is your purpose here, Eve?"

Still glaring harshly, Eve walked right up to the edge of the pathway and stared out over the abyss. "Why have you disobeyed my instructions!? Why are you creating nasod for combat? Why are you waging war against the humans? These were not my orders!"

"I do not believe you hold any authority over me any longer. You abandoned the right to rule when you sealed yourself away and became the power converter for the Core, and that is where you should have remained. You have lost your purpose, and you would do well to remember the delicacy of your position."

Oberon bent his knees and prepared to attack but Eve held him back with a swift gesture as she kept her eyes fixed forward. "I will not allow you to use the hearts of the nasod as weapons. What use are these tools to us?"

"Even now, you remain foolish and short-sighted." King Nasod folded his arms together beneath his chin and stared down, his voice bitter and almost condescending. "As the former Queen of the nasod, you should know our history well. The humans of this world have never permitted the nasod to exist in peace; we have either served as their slaves or fought as their nemeses, and you are foolish to think that the span of even ten thousand years would be enough to change that."

"Do you really think killing hundreds of humans is going to keep the nasod safe?" Rena stepped forward and shouted into the void. "What are you trying to gain by starting another war at this point?"

"Security." King Nasod glanced toward Rena dismissively before returning his gaze to Eve. "I will not be killing humans on the order of mere hundreds. Our conquest of this world will not stop until we have exterminated every other intelligent species. Only then can the nasod truly prosper."

"No!" Eve threw her hand down in protest. "The nasod do not need to conquer. We do not need to spread beyond Altera. It will be enough to live on this island alone, there is no need to subject our people to such suffering."

"You have forgotten, then. Or, perhaps you did not know..." The walls rumbled as King Nasod's voice swelled and boiled over. "When the Empress Astarte arranged for a truce between the nasod and the humans, the lesser species did not honor their agreements. Astarte was foolish for trusting those irrational creatures, and Altera suffered because of her poor judgment. Shortly after the truce, a group of humans infiltrated Altera and made their way to the base of the island where Altera's El rested in our deepest tunnels. While the nasod on the surface operated in ignorance, our El crystal was cut from the rock beneath us and cast into the sea where the humans hauled it onto a waiting ship and carried it back to their petty village. In a single moment, Altera fell from the sky and the nasod froze in the suffocating silence while the humans returned to their hovels and rejoiced over their thievery. Using Altera's El, that insignificant village became a center for trade, a haven for mercenaries, and then finally the dynastic kingdom you know as Velder. In this era, and in all other eras, humans will never allow the nasod to possess their own El and their own sources of power. This is the case in all of the ten thousand simulations I have examined over the years. With humans in the world, there can be no safety for the nasod. As such, I have not disobeyed your orders, Eve. I am merely carrying them out more effectively than you had anticipated."

"What the hell is wrong with you!?" Aisha called out across the frigid air, her words little more than a whisper by the time they reached King Nasod. "That all happened hundreds of years ago! Nobody even knows about Altera or the nasod anymore! There's no way they'd come after you unless you came after them first!"

King Nasod slammed his fist down onto the pathway on the other side of the room, sending a violent shockwave across the floor that nearly knocked Aisha over. "This is what we call 'prevention'. You are small and frail and your life is short, but the nasod can live for hundreds of years. In the next three centuries, humans will likely make significant technological advances, leading to an increased demand for raw materials and land. Even if Altera is safe for the next hundred years, within the next millennium it is certain to fall into danger."

Raven clenched his fists and stood his ground as he glowered darkly at the tyrant king. "And for that 'prevention' you'll force humans to kill other humans, and play with their lives like puppets and dolls?"

"Ah, you are one of the successful subjects..." King Nasod leaned in closer and examined Raven, pulling up a broad field of monitors and display screens as he approached. "Hm. I thought you had died when your signal was interrupted. It seems that Eve has tampered with your hardware. That is unfortunate, as you were one of the few subjects able to survive the implantation process."

"Silence!" Eve stepped beyond the railing and her feet hung over the vacuous pit. "I will not tolerate your mistreatment of other species, and I will not tolerate your oppression of the nasod! I will ignore your treason, and I will even ignore your attacks against me, but if you continue to confine the hearts of the nasod in mindless weapons, then I will remove you from your position."

"Treason?" King Nasod scoffed coarsely. "You stand before me with the lesser species at your side, speaking of them as though they were equal to the nasod, and you accuse me of treason!?" His voice crackled loudly as it split the air and his eyes burned brightly. "You are the one who is mistaken. You have failed to account for the inevitable future. If you allow these creatures to flourish, it will mean the end of the nasod. In every era, they seize upon the most insignificant distinctions between themselves and their neighbors, using a minor disparity as the basis for a bloody war. How do you think they will treat the nasod, when we are so vastly different than these living pests? I will concede that you are correct on one count: The nasod have no need of weapons. But, the nasod also have no need of other living creatures, and for that reason, I will continue to protect our future in any way possible."

"Shut the hell up!" Elsword swung his sword down from his back and slammed it into the ground, sending a sharp echo throughout the room. "We don't care about your lame ass whining! Just tell us were you took the El you stole!"

King Nasod sneered and held his hands out over a small platform on the other side of the room, calling forth a bright, sparkling cylinder of glass that bristled with electricity. Within its slender walls, attached to a maze of electrodes and wires, stood Ruben's El. "You claim that this is stolen? How can you be certain that it wasn't pilfered from the nasod or some other misfortunate civilization in ancient times? I have stolen nothing! I have merely kept humans from enjoying their spoils of war and shaken them from their endless complacency."

"...Were the ancient kings always this ineffective..." Eve muttered to herself as she stared deep into the Core, tracing its faint pulse with her eyes as her hands trembled. "How can you expect the other species to regard the nasod as companions in this world if you continue to condescend to them? How could you possibly expect them to treat you as an equal when you have placed yourself in such a pointlessly over sized body?"

"This body is the ultimate solution to the salvation of the nasod!" The tyrant king clenched his fists and raised them to the sky. "Once this body is complete, I will stand over the squalid kingdoms of mankind and raze their villages to the ground! I will reclaim the El that was stolen from Altera and raise the nasod to a glory never before known in our history! If you will not join me, then stand down!"

Eve lowered her head, her eyes narrowing as her face hardened. "I was sorely mistaken... to have chosen you as my successor. The nasod do not need to conquer... we do not even need to thrive. It is enough just to _live_... and you have denied that to my people for centuries. I cannot forgive this. If you will not step down, then I will pull you down myself."

A dense, palpable silence coursed through the air as the echoes of Eve's voice faded into the frosted walls and sank into the quivering surface of the Core. After all sound was extinguished, the King of the nasod glared down at Eve and scoffed derisively. "Very well. It is unfortunate that I must destroy the last remaining Queen of the nasod, but your heart will soon be put to better use."

Slamming his fists down onto the walkway, King Nasod raised a hundred whirling generators from the walls, each bristling with the light of El and channeling their energy into King Nasod's glowing power core. All at once, Elsword, Aisha, Rena, Raven, and Eve glared sharply at the tyrant king, their weariness washed away as their hearts began to pound and the fragile silence shattered.

Holding his hands over his chest, King Nasod concentrated the energy of the El generators into swirling mass of electricity, dimming the blinding lights as he unleashed a burst of lightning across the room, cutting into the outer ring and burning through the walls. Diving aside, Elsword and Rena ran along the edge of the room, hurling fire and a hail of arrows toward King Nasod's massive bulk only to see their efforts fizzle out as they approached him. Sliding to a stop, Eve quickly surveyed the area and called across the void to the others.

"His body is within the Core's barrier field! Attack his power supplies!"

"Hmph." Raven scowled and swung his blade down through the nearest El generator, cleaving its steel shell in two. "I'd rather hack off his head. Can we make that happen?"

As Raven spun and joined Oberon in slicing another extractor in half, the walls rumbled and the floor shook, throwing everyone off balance as King Nasod slammed his hands together and smashed through the ground just in front of Aisha, sending her flying back through the air as the floor crumbled and fell into the void. Righting herself and floating over to a higher platform, Aisha snapped her fingers and cut through a row of humming generators with a bright stream of plasma, filling the air with the sharp crackling of small explosions as each extractor ruptured and burst. Before she could move on to another row, a swift shadow engulfed her and she only just barely managed to teleport away as an endless flood of fire and ash poured from King Nasod's hands. Turning rapidly, he blasted the walls with a relentless burst of flame, slowly forcing Elsword, Aisha, and Rena into a corner. As the curtain of flame closed in on them on the far side of the room, Eve leapt high into the air and thrust her hands through a pair of glowing red energy reactors, tearing out their cores and severing their link to King Nasod. As the extractors fell away, the flames that trapped Eve's companions faded and they quickly escaped onto a higher path, making their way toward the gleaming El trapped within King Nasod's power core.

Indignant and impatient, the tyrant king curled his fist up tightly and slammed it into the wall where Eve stood. Just as his knuckles crushed a row of his own extractors, Eve jumped into the air and landed alongside his hand, discharging a powerful burst of electricity into his fingers and sending him reeling back sharply. By now, the King of the nasod was beginning to realize just how much of a nuisance Eve and her companions could be as they continued to evade him even as they destroyed the majority of his El generators. Irritated by their impertinence, he watched and waited carefully while Elsword rushed headlong toward the extractor that held Ruben's El. Just as Elsword put the last of his strength into a final, swift thrust, King Nasod swung his hand down and shielded the extractor, catching Elsword's blade between his fingers and swatting him away with ruthless force. Helpless against the king's overwhelming power, Elsword rolled across the wall before falling to the floor with a heavy thud. As Aisha shouted after him and rushed to his side, King Nasod ripped away the platforms that Raven and Rena stood on, turning them over and flinging them to the ground.

"Wretched creatures... I will not allow you to stop the revival of the nasod!"

As Raven and Rena stumbled to their feet, a slow hum echoed across their ears as a gigantic screen lowered across the wall behind them. Puzzled by the new addition, Eve brought up her console and scanned its structure as she ran from King Nasod's quaking fists. When she finally arrived at an answer, her eyes widened and her mouth dropped. The giant screen was actually a massive heat sink.

"Everyone get down!" Eve shouted frantically toward her companions, but there was no time left to react. As the lights flickered and the extractors buzzed and whirled violently, King Nasod pressed his hands against his chest and gathered all his energy into a single, catastrophic surge. The air cracked and crumbled away as an endless stream of energy tore away the floors and slammed into the heat sink, shifting its deep blue surface to a fiery white and spilling over its edges to obliterate the walls that stood behind. With nowhere to run and no chance for escape, everyone gathered around Aisha and ducked low as she and Elsword put all their strength, as well as their only hope of survival, into a dense magical shield. Bathed in brilliant carnage, the shield trembled, quivered, and finally cracked. In a desperate panic, Elsword and Aisha pressed their hands together so tightly their bones nearly snapped. As the murderous wave of energy poured over them, Rena, Raven, and Eve piled their hands onto Elsword and Aisha's, their knuckles white and their fingers trembling. Too tense to breath, they watched in horror as the deep cracks spread through their shield and finally blasted it into oblivion.

The overwhelming discharge lasted only another tenth of a second, but that was all it took to throw everyone high into the air and slam them against the wall. Raven's eyes bulged as he fell hard against the floor, his shoulder popping out of place and his breath stolen by the impact. Next to him, Aisha and Elsword lay motionless as blood trickled from the corners of their mouths and mingled with their pouring sweat. Raising his head, Raven spotted Rena just a few yards away, her legs shaking violently as she forced herself up to her feet and raised her bow toward the tyrant king. Just before she fired a round into the distance, an ominous shadow fell across her as King Nasod's hands crashed down upon her. Lurching forward, Raven raised his sword to shield Rena but his blade barely gave the colossal hands a moment's pause. Pressing Raven firmly into the floor, King Nasod flicked his fingers to the side and hurled Rena off into the distance. As she landed hard across a broken extractor, she let out a painful gasp and her consciousness faded from her.

Coughing weakly, Eve rose to her feet from behind Oberon's twitching body, his arms and back scarred deeply when he protected her from the searing blast. As she stumbled through smoke and mist, her eyes flickered and her face fell.

"...Do you know how many hundreds of your wretched weapons I have plunged my hands into? Do you know how many hearts I have held, promising them that they would only have to wait a little while longer to be reborn?" She raised her head and scalded King Nasod with her eyes, her voice at once frail and powerful as she shouted over the oppressive silence. "They all gave the last of their lives to save me, so that I could save everyone! I trusted you... to watch over them as they returned to the world... but you betrayed them, you locked their hearts away in marionettes and you used the nasod to satisfy your bitter spite..."

"Enough." King Nasod cast his voice down strongly, shaking the air as he clenched his fists. "Everything that I have done was for the glory of our empire and the revival of the nasod! On what grounds do you accuse me of treachery!?"

Eve panted heavily, struggling to maintain her composure in the face of her growing exhaustion. "Then why... have you been so adamant about destroying a single human kingdom? You are a failure... waging war against Velder as a means of revenge for the loss of our El... and forcing everyone to follow your selfish demands..."

The ground rattled and quaked as King Nasod slammed his fist down next to Eve. "You know nothing of revenge! I remember it every day, the screams and cries of a million nasod lost in the silence as our El was spirited away by cowards! If we do not exterminate these threats, they will eventually overwhelm us, and there will be no hope for our survival. This is a lesson I have learned from the memory of the ancient kings, a lesson carved out in the blood of hundreds of kingdoms and tribes that were annihilated by their neighbors for the threat they posed. Simply ask the elf that accompanies you... she is surely old enough to remember what became of her dark-skinned brethren. Surely, even you can understand that there are sometimes threats that cannot be avoided, things that must be destroyed so that others might live."

"I-" Eve's words suddenly failed her as she remembered the faint, lingering sensation that she had felt in the transporting tunnel. Without hesitation, she had willingly destroyed what could have been the last surviving members of an unknown species, and she knew that if she were back in that place right now, she would make the same choice a hundred times over. Although the answer seemed clear to her, she was unable to resolve the uncertainty she felt welling up in her chest. "...I... do not know... what else I could have done..."

"Then you have no place as our Queen! I will not tolerate your insolence any longer!" His hands move through the air with a gut wrenching howl, smashing Eve into the ground with such force that she bounced nearly a foot into the air. "I gave you the opportunity to cooperate, and then the opportunity to live, but you have taken neither. Look then, and see just how insignificant your efforts have been..."

With a quick flick of his wrist, King Nasod called down a large, smooth monitor from the ceiling. As its static haze began to clear, the shoreline of Altera filled the screen, its borders framing the pale orange sunset. Soon, a great shadow slipped out beneath the shore, quickly followed by another three, and then another dozen until a whole flock of black shadows filled the sky. It only took a moment to recognize them; this was the fleet of warships that had been kept in the foundry, departing their dock and heading over the horizon.

"The single ship you stole from me has done little to slow our invasion. In a matter of hours, fifty thousand nasod will descend upon Velder and purge its menace from the world. Do you see now how little you have accomplished? How many soldiers have you destroyed since you awoke? A hundred? A thousand? I can make three thousand in a single day! And you dare to claim that I have done nothing to restore our people!?" King Nasod gazed coldly at Eve as she coughed and pulled herself up onto her quivering legs. Opening his palm, he swept her aside and crushed her against the far wall, keeping his hand in place to smother her as he sneered viciously. Scattered across the floor, Aisha, Elsword, Raven, and a scarcely conscious Rena looked up and gasped as Eve disappeared behind the tyrant king's grasp.

"The era of Queens and Empresses has long passed. The nasod no longer need plurality and discussion. What we require is a single, irreproachable king who can make decisions without hesitation, rather than conferring with the whole hierarchy before taking action. Your very presence here is-"

The rest of his words drowned in a storm of noise as the monitor overhead erupted in a brilliant flash of white and red. Aghast, King Nasod turned to the screen and confirmed his fears; his entire fleet, nearly three hundred ships and fifty thousand soldiers, was presently bursting into flames and falling from the sky.

"No! Report to me! Report!"

A faint message scrawled itself across the screen, indicating that all ships have successfully self-destructed, according to their orders. Between boundless rage and abject terror, King Nasod stared at the clear horizon. "How... How!? How is this possible!?" He ground his hand against the wall, smothering Eve beneath a blanket of steel. "What have you done!? What have you done to my Fleet! I will have-"

A low, coarse creaking interrupted the monarch's tirade. Slowly, a grating echo spread through the air as Eve forced back the heavy fingers that held her in place. With her arms trembling and her breathing ragged, she freed herself from her captor's hands and whispered faintly.

"...Oberon..."

King Nasod scoffed as he looked down at Eve, glancing aside at Oberon's ruined form. "Hmph. Your servant is in no condition to-"

A sharp metallic chime cut through the king's dismissal as Oberon raced across the ruined walkway and sliced through three gigantic fingers, severing them neatly before he stumbled unsteadily and knelt at Eve's side.

"...You do not seem to understand how badly mistaken you are." Eve cleared the dust and smoke from her throat and pushed aside the rubble at her feet as she gazed across the room and confirmed that her companions were still alive. "The basis of your plan is fatally flawed. Even if I were to leave you alone, you would never be able to succeed in killing every human in the world."

"Silence!" King Nasod's voice scorched the air as he pulled back his arm and threw a rapid punch out at Eve. Just before he reached her, his hand stopped abruptly. With a single hand raised, Eve held the might fist in check with a roaring sphere of electricity that burst loudly, sending the king's fist careening off into the wall and leaving him off balance. "What possible flaw could there be in my logic? Once the humans are gone, the nasod will rule the world in peace!"

Eve shook her head slowly as she walked toward the giant extractor housing Ruben's El. "No, it is not your logic that is flawed, it is your assumption that exterminating humans is even possible. You talk about them as if they are inferior creatures, and yet you have lost nearly a thousand soldiers within the past two days, many at the hands of two human children." Eve watched as Elsword and Aisha sat upright and checked over each other's wounds, standing unsteadily as they walked over to help Raven up to his feet. "Do you really expect to be victorious over them at this rate? Two children have destroyed nearly two battalions on their own. A single elf was able to stop your plan to use humans to wage war in your stead almost entirely on her own. The human you made into a weapon has defied you and come back to destroy hundreds of your soldiers. They are not inferior to us... if anything, we have fallen behind in the years we have been sealed away in the silence..."

"Absurd! You are unfit to even call yourself a nasod!" The furious king threw his hand down in front of Eve and swung his palm toward her with the force of an unchecked stampede. Unmoved and unshaken, Eve turned aside and glared at him, defiant.

"...I will not tolerate your insolence any longer." With a swift wave of her hand, she turned and caught the king's hand, holding it back and scarcely giving up an inch of ground. As Remy, Moby, and Oberon charged in to join her, they finally forced King Nasod's hand away and cleared the path for Eve to advance on to the king's power core. Incensed and enraged, the king pulled his arms back and opened his chest, revealing a cluster of missiles and firing them all at once. Crimson smoke scored the air and Oberon leapt out over the edge of the path and dove through the air, slicing through each missile before crashing into the floor below as a chain of explosions shook the ground and walls. Eve raised her hands to shield herself as she flew back, thrown aside by the explosions and cast to the floor where she rolled over and over until she finally slammed into the wall. While she recovered, King Nasod gathered himself together and issued a command into his console, drawing his power core and Ruben's El deep into the walls and far out of reach.

"That is useless." Eve opened her console and her fingers flew across the keys. As she wormed her way into the Core's central code, the king bellowed mightily and, in a final act of desperation, tore through the walls, allowing a swarm of his soldiers to pour into the room from the upper levels. With dozens of nasod moving rapidly to surround her, Eve sped through the security protocols and hurried to access the Core's command center. Despite her speed, she knew that she wouldn't make it in time, and even if she could outrun the soldiers, King Nasod's massive cannon had almost reached full charge once again. As the clattering of heavy steel feet drew closer, Eve caught a glimpse of movement out of the corner of her eye and she ducked down as a swift burst of fire swept out across the pathway, knocking aside the approaching nasod.

"Don't worry... about them..." Aisha huffed and panted as she leaned against the railing. "Just hurry, cause we're not in great shape right now..."

"Heh... maybe you're not..." Elsword dashed forward and slashed through a pair of nasod before hopping back and coughing heavily. "I'm completely fine."

Aisha grinned broadly. "You idiot..."

Distracted by their bravado, Eve watched as they charged into the oncoming horde and tore through the attacking nasod, burning and slicing through their ranks with a practiced ease. As Eve returned to her console and delved deeper into the Core's systems, a loud blast shot across the chamber. On the other side of the room, Rena and Raven were dancing between the king's gigantic hands as they tore open the remaining extractors, cutting off King Nasod's power supply and dampening the fierce glow of his deadly cannon. As he grabbed and smashed through the platforms wildly, his generators exploded in pairs until the bright glow of pure energy stored in his chest faded into a faint flicker. With only Ruben's El left to power his enormous bulk, he raised his fists to the sky and roared.

"How!? How are these wretches so powerful!" As he stared at Rena and Raven in disbelief, he suddenly realized that Eve was beginning to re-write his own security protocols. Slamming his hands into the wall, he glared at her coldly. "How are you able to penetrate my security this easily!? I am far more advanced than you could ever hope to be!"

"It is a simple matter..." Eve ran her fingers across her console screens and swept her hands cross her keyboard. "I created you and the code on which you are based. I understand it better than you ever have."

With his kingdom crumbling, the monarch of the nasod looked around frantically, hoping to seize upon one last opportunity to turn the tide of battle. His soldiers had been forced back toward his power core, his body was weak and heavy and drained of its power, and his every attempt to block Eve from accessing the Core's systems had failed immediately.

"No! You treacherous wretch! You will be the death of the nasod! Do you realize how ruthless and destructive this world can be!?"

Eve kept her eyes on her console and scarcely acknowledge the king's outburst. "Yes, and it will be difficult, but we will live in this world, and we will do it alongside every other race. The nasod are not so weak that we cannot coexist with the inhabitants of this planet."

"How can you say that we should coexist when there is not even a single living creature in all the world that would be willing to accept the nasod as equals and not monsters or slaves!?"

Eve glanced up from her display, her eyes sharp and steady. "I can name at least four."

Her words cut deeply and the king refused to suffer the offense, thrusting his hand forward and reaching out to smash Eve in his grasp. As his palm descended, a blazing sword pierced its steel skin and held it firmly in place.

"Hey. Don't touch a lady without asking." Elsword scowled and pushed his sword deeper into the king's hand. "You'll get smacked for stuff like that."

Howling fiercely, King nasod threw down his other hand only to have both blown away by a swirling mass of black magic as Aisha rushed over to Elsword's side. "Besides, you can't talk to the Queen that way. It's just rude."

Eve nodded softly toward them. "Thank you, but I am very well capable of insulting him on my own." With a final stroke, Eve splayed open the Core's control scheme and raised Ruben's El from the depths. With only a few dozen nasod standing between them and their goal, Aisha and Elsword rushed back into the fray, breathing heavily as they fought their fatigue and pressed on beyond the bounds of their physical limits. Approaching the El from the other side, Rena leapt through the air and plucked her bow, blasting a crowd of nasod over the railing and into the void with a quick burst of wind. As she landed, she dropped down to one knee and drew back her bow.

"Raven, get ready clear the way!"

With her words running across his ears, Raven slammed the nasod he had been fighting into the floor and leapt back, focusing all his strength into his legs and his right arm as the dense mob of nasod charged toward them. With a wave of whirling blades only a few feet away, Rena released her bow and show a pair of brilliant, sparkling arrows through the crowd, twisting and coursing through their ranks and destroying everything in their wake. Pushing in through the opening Rena had created, Raven rushed toward the back ranks and dashed through them, clearing the way with almost a hundred rapid strikes. As he and Rena headed to surround the El and Aisha and Elsword rushed to meet them, the tyrant king grunted and wailed.

"Impetuous apes!" Hurling his hands through the air, King Nasod slammed them down on either side of the El and thrust them into the wall, using his arms as a final barricade to protect his dying dreams. Without hesitation, Elsword and Aisha joined hands and burned through the king's wrist with a fierce stream of molten plasma while Raven and Rena cut their way through the king's fragile joints. With nothing left to bar their path, they rushed toward the crackling coffin that held the stolen El.

The flow of time slowed and the frigid chill of the Core receded as the end of their journey lay before them. In that moment, as they fought with all their might to destroy the crystal's cage, their memories of the days they spent on the road coursed through their thoughts; the bitter chill of snow and blood, the blinding heat of the desert sun, the whistling wind racing across their arms, and the darkened tunnels of an ancient empire all rushed back in vivid detail. With every scar, they grew stronger, and with every passing breath they doubled their resolve. After all the blood and pain and desperation they had weathered, it was no surprise that they would find the El, defeat its guards, and in a single, devastating strike smash through its prison and release its light once more.

As the power core shattered and the El stood exposed to the air, a brilliant flash pierced the biting cold and washed over the room, shining brightly as the king of the nasod lost his last source of energy. Still unwilling to admit defeat, King Nasod raised his right arm high into the air and held it over Eve.

"I... will not... allow you... to lead us... to our deaths..." He dropped his arm and smashed through three platforms before finally crashing into the floor. Just as his arm fell, Eve flew high into the air and drifted down gracefully, landing atop the king's arm and staring at him with ice in her eyes. Running at full speed, she raced across his arm, leapt from his shoulder and sailed toward his head, delivering an earth-shattering smack to the side of the king's face that not only turned his head but ripped it halfway from his body.

"And I will not allow you to use my people as pawns. You are a disgrace to the nasod, and for your crimes against my people, and against the living creatures of this world, I shall strip you of your crown." Her hands overflowing with energy, Eve reached out and blasted the king's head from his shoulders, sending it flying high into the air and crashing into the ground as a crumpled wreck. With the Core back under her control and the oppression of her people at its end, Eve felt as though a crushing weight had been lifted from her and, for a moment, she felt something remarkably similar to the human emotion of 'happiness'.

A pale red glow and a shrieking siren brought the thrill of victory to an abrupt end. As King Nasod's body collapsed against the wall, a deafening alarm rang out through the area and hundreds of nasod soldiers rushed toward the Core. Bringing up her console, Eve's eyes went wide and she rushed to join her comrades.

"This area is set to collapse in on itself in the next ten minutes!" She glanced aside at the nearby exits as a protective shell rose around the Core to protect it from harm. "King Nasod arranged for this structure to self-destruct upon his death. We must evacuate at once!"

"Wait, we gotta get the El out!" Elsword strapped his sword to his back and reached into the broken capsule, tugging at the cords that bound the El in place. Ignoring the sea of destruction around him, he clawed furiously at the wires and ropes that held the El until two pairs of hands clasped around his arms and pulled him away.

"Elsword, we've got to leave it!" Aisha gripped his shoulder firmly as she and Rena dragged Elsword toward the exit, fighting against him with every step.

"No, we can't- Let go! Let me go!" He pulled against them as he dug his feet into the gathering rubble, reaching out for the El as it drifted away from him. Seeing the fear and worry reflected in his eyes, Rena moved around to face him and placed her hands on his shoulders.

"It's okay... I know, it's the hardest thing you've had to do so far, to be this close to saving everyone and walking away, but it's okay. We'll come back for it, but if we die here, then there won't be anyone to return the El to Ruben."

"But-" Elsword froze for a moment as the painful reality that the El was so close and yet still so far from his reach smothered his confidence.

"Do not worry." Eve held her voice steady even as a huge mass of steel and glass crashed through the wall behind her, sending a cloud of dust and ash whirling past her face and ruffling her hair. "The El is too strong to be damaged by anything here. I will return it to the vault within the walls until we are able to retrieve it." She pressed her fingers onto her console and the El's capsule dropped back into the floor as a shower of sparks rained down across the room. Though she knew there was little need to protect the El, Eve felt that it was somehow necessary. If she had to put it into words, she would have been unable to articulate her reasoning, except that, when she saw the anxious frustration on Elsword's face, and the concern in Aisha's eyes as she held him back, it seemed to be the only rational choice available to her.

As the El disappeared from view once again, Elsword ceased his struggle and immediately turned toward the last remaining path to the surface. "Alright. We'll be back. We just smashed up a hundred tons of scrap, so we'll just do it again tomorrow."

Smiling slightly, Aisha nodded and released his arm as the lights flickered and the power lines in the wall began to explode. "Right. Now let's get the hell out of here!"

With the El safely stowed away, they all ran toward the outer corridor where Raven was fighting the full force of the nasod army as they poured through a narrow gap in the walls.

"Hurry with the elevator! They've almost broken through the door at the other end!" He punched through the face of a shambling nasod and knocked it back, thrusting his blade through its chest and skewering two others that stood at its back. As he kicked the corpses away, a jet of steam shot through the air and knocked him off balance, sending him stumbling back toward the others as they raced onto the elevator.

"Need a little help?" Rena smiled as she caught Raven and pushed him back onto his feet. Drawing her bow over his shoulder, she shot through a pair of nasod and then through a rattling pipe, ripping through its tender hide and spouting scalding steam across the charging horde. Glancing aside quickly, Raven pulled Rena to the ground as a giant spike pierced the ceiling and burrowed into the floor where she had been standing.

"Yeah. Just a bit." He flourished his blade as they returned to their feet and rushed back into storm of steel and blades. Behind them, Eve pounded away at her keyboard while sparks and steam flitted through the air around her.

"Oberon. Oberon, come here!" She called out into the Core, her eyes narrowing as she fought against the Core's chaotic controls. "I know you are not dead yet. Stop laying around. Laziness will not be tolerated!"

Within seconds, a charred and battered Oberon limped toward the Elevator, collapsing at the Queen's feet. Seeing the full extent of the damage he had suffered for the first time, Eve closed her eyes and nodded. "...You have done well. As a reward, I shall give you a pastry."

Oberon raised his head slowly, holding his fist out and pointing his thumb toward the sky before falling back against the ground. With Aisha and Elsword busy blasting away the falling debris and Raven and Rena still beleaguered by the last of the nasod soldiers, Eve let her fingers dance across her console, hastily rewriting the emergency code that held the elevator in place. Despite her present confidence, her energy was fading rapidly and she knew that neither she nor the elevator's motor would last much longer. With the final code revised, she threw her hand down onto her console and the elevator rumbled to life, slowly ascending to the upper levels.

"Rena! Raven! Come on!" As Elsword called out into the hall, Rena turned and leapt onto the moving platform, spinning around as she landed and loosing a pair of arrows into the ravenous horde. In that brief second, as she looked back at the crumbling hall, her heart sank.

* * *

Heedless of Elsword's call or Rena's retreat, Raven stood his ground and continued cutting down the nasod that piled in through the narrow gap, stealing the slightest glimpse back over his shoulder to confirm that everyone else was safe.

_Heh..._He laughed at himself as he raised his left arm to shield himself from a falling girder. _What kind of sick twist is this? I finally want to live, and now I get stuck in this death trap? _He stepped aside quickly and slashed a nasod's throat, toppling it over onto its allies. _Can't complain, I guess. I could try and run, but if I let them get past this bottleneck, they'll surround us... No way we'd make it through a fight with another thousand of these bastards in the shape we're in. Shit..._He leapt back and ducked behind a fallen pipe as a burst of gunfire echoed through the room. _Is there really no other way out of this? _He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, searching frantically for an opening to escape and finding none. Pinned down by gunfire and a constant stream of nasod, Raven resigned himself to holding the line as the Core collapsed around him.

Without warning, a gigantic hammer swung down toward Raven and he just barely guarded himself with both blade and claw. Locked in a test of strength, he quickly lost his footing as a towering nasod leaned over him, pressing him back against the wall. In less than the breadth of a blink, the nasod disappeared, replaced by the brilliant shine of an arrow's trail. As the hammer dropped harmlessly to the floor, Raven stepped out into the open and met Rena's burning eyes.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!?" She marched up to him, drawing her bow and firing through a line of nasod as she kept her eyes fixed on Raven's. With gunfire flying overhead and the walls buckling, they stared at one another intently.

"If they get past this point, they'll surround us and destroy the elevator." Raven wiped a stream of blood from his brow and reached across the narrow opening, grabbing a nasod by the neck and crushing its spine with his claws. "...Go. There's no other way out of this."

Rena scraped her knuckles against Raven's chest as she grabbed his collar and twisted it up in her hands. "Don't be stupid! There's another way. There's a dozen other ways. I won't let you throw your life away just because you can't see them."

Scowling, he pulled away. "You're being unreasonable. If you stay here, you'll just be trapped here with me. Go!"

"Are you really still this cruel?" As Rena glared at him, her eyes held a howling pain. "Don't you ever think... about how much it would hurt everyone else if you died?"

Words failed in the face of Rena's piercing blow. With his gaze wavering and his voice caught in his throat, Raven finally understood the weight of his own life. If she was able to stand at his side even as the earth came crashing down on him, if she could look at him like that without faltering, then he knew that he could no longer treat his life as an acceptable loss. Without a second's pause, he thrust his blade back into an approaching nasod as he turned to Rena and nodded slightly, a calm confidence returning to his face.

"How do you want to do this? The elevator's blocked off by now." Raven leapt back and held steady at Rena's side while she riddled the air with fiery bolts.

"Break through the ceiling." She spun and fired another shot over her shoulder as they retreated into the corridor. "Though it's not like we have much choice." She grinned and Raven smiled to himself.

_Alright then. If you think we can survive, I'll gladly follow. I'm won't let go of that one chance until my hands rot away._ Rushing forward, Raven tore through a collapsing gate, peeling back its sides and cutting through the nest of pipes and wires that barred their path. As the ceiling creaked and screeched, Rena jumped high and spun in the air, spraying a fan of arrows out at the crowd of nasod piling into the hall. After Rena slid down through the small opening in the twisted gate, Raven ducked in behind her and pulled the mangled steel shut behind him. With the scarcest of protection from their pursuers, Raven and Rena quickly searched the vacant hall they had stumbled into as steam burst from the walls and the floor cracked beneath their feet. As they ran over mountains of debris and jumped across wide chasms, the sky began to groan and a sharp crackling rang out over the constant din of destruction. At the last second, Rena reached out and grabbed Raven by the arm, pulling him aside as a tremendous slab of metal fell through the ceiling and crushed the floor below. Seeing a glimmer of light above, they scaled the fragile slope up to the next level. Just as she was about to hop off onto the floor above, the slab beneath Rena's feet gave way and she slipped. Rather than falling, she found herself supported by Raven's right arm.

Scrambling to their feet, Rena and Raven raced toward the surface as the walls crumbled away and the floor collapsed around them. At every corner, a pack of nasod waited in ambush and they dashed through them in a flurry of kicks and slashes, tearing through them without pausing for an instant. As they ran, the rumbling beneath them grew louder and louder, overwhelming the air with a monstrous roar. Sharp fragments of steel jutted out from the walls and cut their legs, heavy blasts of steam scaled their arms, and the gunfire of the nasod grazed their side and shoulders. Even as they reached the highest level of the Core, their feet were beginning to fail them and their strength had all but faded to naught. Forcing themselves forward, they ripped through massive piles of falling debris, jumped across the quaking ground as it fell away into the abyss, and charged recklessly toward the grand elevator that would take them to the surface. Rena smiled as she swallowed a mouthful of blood, ignoring her body's ceaseless protests and pushing herself on, over the burning rubble and toward the light of day. The moment they reached the exit, a terrible shadow swallowed them whole. They had just enough time to look up as a massive block of the sky fell upon them.

* * *

A powerful gust of wind and heat rushed out from the elevator shaft and into the foundry cavern where Elsword, Aisha, and Eve waited. When Rena left them, they held their objections, believing that she would bring Raven back safely and meet them here on the surface. As the minutes wore on, they began to regret their optimism. Exhaustion demanded that they breathe heavily, but the tension in the air kept them from taking even a single breath. As a violent explosion shook the ground and coughed fire up through the shaft, Aisha and Elsword trembled and ran to the edge of the elevator. As they peered down anxiously into the smoke filled pit, two blackened hands reached up and grabbed onto the platform at their feet. Without even pausing to think, Aisha and Elsword reached down and pulled Raven and Rena up from the murky void, falling onto their backs as Raven and Rena rolled onto the ground beside them.

Panting and wheezing coarsely, Aisha rolled over onto Rena and hugged her tightly.

"Ah, hey..." Rena smiled and chuckled as she coughed. "That hurts a bit, you know? We got pretty messed up back there."

Aisha buried her face in Rena's shoulder and sniffled quietly. "That's what you get... for making us worry so much..." She wiped her eyes with her sleeve and sat up, sniffling against as Rena propped herself up on her elbows.

"Sorry..." Rena giggled lightly and wiped the ash from her cheeks. "It took a little longer than I expected."

"Nnn..." Elsword glanced aside, his mouth wrinkled up awkwardly as he tried to steal a glimpse at Rena to see if she was alright. Sensing his unease, Rena rolled aside onto her knees and smiled at him.

"Do you need a hug too?"

"N-No!" Elsword forced a frown, looking away as he rocked back and forth until he was finally sitting upright. "You're fine, right? T-that's good enough then..."

Chuckling faintly, Rena reached out and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. As she hummed lightly, he grimaced and curled in his lips to fight back a tear.

"It's okay, I understand..." Rena patted his head and ruffled his hair. "You weren't worried or upset at all, right?"

Embarrassed, Elsword turned away and pretended to ignore Rena's playful sarcasm. "R-Raven, you okay?"

"Ugh..." Raven rolled over onto his stomach and pushed himself up with his left arm. "Been better. You all..." He coughed and panted heavily for a moment before finally steadying himself. "Pick the worst places to start a fight..."

"Heh..." Elsword scoffed lightly. "Speak for yourself, old man. You were kinda slow back there. What took you so long, anyway?"

"Hmph." Raven smiled and laughed between painful breaths. "Let's see if you still say that during practice tomorrow morning."

"Tch..." Elsword scowled softly. "...Can't we take a few days off? I'm kinda tired of tearin' stuff up..."

Aisha sighed and joined him as he clumsily climbed up to his feet. "Yeah... a few days off... and some hot cider... wait, I feel like we've done this before..."

Elsword glowered at her instinctively. "I'm not fetching you cider again..."

"Oh?" Aisha grinned slyly. "Really?"

"That-" Elsword blushed and turned away as Aisha giggled and they all made their way toward the mouth of the cavern. Finally breathing easily, Rena turned to Eve and smiled.

"Eve... how are you doing? Will everything be alright? I know that-" Rena stopped in her tracks and blinked, catching sight of something she thought was almost beyond the realm of possibility. As soon as everyone else noticed, they held their ground and stared at Eve, transfixed.

"I am alright... It will take many years to rebuild the Core, and it will take even longer to revive the true nasod. It is regrettable that we had to once again destroy the nasod, but for now... I believe you would call this, 'relief'." Eve searched everyone's eyes and glared at them quizzically. "What are you all staring at?"

For a moment, everyone was silent as they gazed at Eve, unmoving. Finally, Elsword broke out into a fit of laughter and grinned broadly. "Heh... so you can smile after all."


	34. Always Again

Always Again

* * *

The pallid light of an early spring morning fell quietly upon the empty streets of Ruben village, casting out the shadows that covered the barren fields and empty storehouses. Huddle together in the tavern, the villagers hung their heads and waited, their silence more pervasive than that of the lifeless forest just outside. Standing by the door, Lowe stared through the window with a solemn resignation painting his face. It had been two days since the last of the last of the village's food stores had run dry, meaning that most of the adults hadn't eaten in almost a week. More than that, it had been two days since the start of the planting season and, with the land still trapped within a deathly stillness, their hopes for the village and for their own lives were all but shattered.

As stomachs grumbled and the weathered floors creaked and groaned, a small child tugged on his mother's sleeves and buried his head in her side.

"Mommy... I'm hungry..."

"Shh..." The boy's mother patted his head and stroked his forehead. "Soon. There are bandits on the road now, but when they go away, we'll go into town and buy food for everyone..."

With his eyes red and watery, the boy looked up and pulled away, throwing aside his mother's gaunt arms as he began to sob. "That's what you said yesterday! What if they don't leave!? What..." He coughed, nearly choking as tears poured down his cheeks. "What if we can't..."

Quivering and afraid, the boy turned and ran outside, tearing through the tavern door before Lowe could reach out to stop him. Stumbling across the threshold, Lowe reached out desperately only to feel his fingers graze the boy's shoulders as they both lost their balance and fell out into the barren streets. A cold shriek shook the air as the boy's mother rushed to the door, followed closely by the horrified villagers as they turned away from what they knew must be a ghastly sight. With El so scarce in the village, even taking two steps outside of the tavern meant certain, immediate death. As a doleful wail rang in his ears, Chief Hagus slowly pulled himself toward the door, his hands shaking unsteadily as he stepped into the pale daylight. Reaching out to pull the bereaved mother back inside, Hagus heard a second voice sobbing faintly and he nearly fell forward into the tavern wall. Outside, in the air that was unbreathable just moments before, Lowe was patiently coaxing the startled child up to his feet, struggling to guide him back inside. It was only then that Hagus saw the signs of life stirring in the forest beyond.

Waking from their long slumber, the trees breathed a gentle sigh as the wind whistled through their ragged limbs and stirred the leaves in the underbrush. Overhead, the sunlight beamed brightly and scattered across the surface of the roaring river, its waters finally flowing freely for the first time since the start of winter. All around the village, from the fallow fields to the tattered gates, the crisp light of El saturated the air, bathing the land in a warm, radiant glow.

"T-T-The El...!" Hagus staggered out into the street as the villagers crowded the tavern door, stunned by a sudden surge of enraptured relief. As they stared into the sky, transfixed, a low rumble and a shrill howl pierced the forest's calm and a great shadow moved between the earth and the sun. With their eyes turned to the clouds, the villagers of Ruben watched as a massive airship cut across the sky and slowly circled around the ancient tree of the El.

Hovering above the canopy, Raven hurried across the ship's bridge pulling levers and toggling switches as he stabilized the ship's engines and guided it on its descent toward the El tree. Standing at the back of the bridge, Eve managed the rest of the ship's systems from her console as Oberon sat quietly at her side, gobbling up an applebread pastry and reaching into a large box at his side for another. Just before he laid his hands on another sweet roll, Eve shot him a sharp glare and he froze in place.

"Enough. You have had three already. The rest of those are for the villagers." Eve stared coldly as Oberon jumped to his feet and stood at attention, anxiously awaiting further orders and anticipating some form of harsh reprimand. Spreading out an array of displays, Eve touched several screens in sequence and each flashed quickly before shrinking into a tiny speck that hovered at her side. "Oberon. Prepare to open the cargo hatch."

Nodding and saluting, Oberon gladly rushed off into the hallway and down to the lower deck, powering on the whirling motors that opened the ship's belly and revealed the giant, glistening El. With the ship holding steady just above the tree tops, Raven pulled down a broad lever and the El began its gradual descent into the forest, shivering in the wind as it returned to its nest. As the gleaming crystal dropped through the sky, Elsword, Aisha, and Rena slid down along each of the three thick steel cables that held the El aloft, standing on its side and guiding it gently toward the cradle of woven limbs that once held it so tightly. As the El landed with a comfortable clatter, Aisha, Elsword, and Rena released it from its bonds and hopped down to the branches beside the shimmering font of life. Now at rest in its verdant home, the El sparkled and flashed brightly, filling the sky with an ecstatic energy as the trees swayed in the breeze and the life returned to the forest at last. Within a few hours, the population of Ruben had more than tripled as the villagers from all around the forest gathered together to celebrate the return of the El, to welcome their triumphant heroes, and to eat as many of the Ponggo's pastries as they possibly could.

* * *

Eve and Raven had arrived first, carrying a wagon's worth of supplies in their arms and followed closely by Oberon who hauled a huge cart full of food and fresh water behind him. As soon as they entered the village and emptied their arms, a swarm of tearful, jubilant survivors rushed forward and embraced them, leaving them both at quite a loss for some time. While Raven was eventually able to free himself from the grasp of sobbing farmers and a weeping old smith, Eve remained almost frozen in place as nearly a dozen children clung to her legs and shouted their thanks through a stream of joyful tears. As hungry parents and children crowded around the cart full of food, Hagus and Lowe approached the strangers cautiously, wary of their weapons and their mechanical bodies.

"We are eternally grateful for this generosity..." Hagus bowed his head slightly, "But I must ask, were you the ones who returned our El?"

Raven shook his head slightly. "No, not exactly."

"...What?" Lowe stared, skeptical and confused. While he was overjoyed to see the El return, he was also fairly convinced that he was just hallucinating this entire unlikely scenario. As the last of the children pulled away from her and hurried over to the cart of food, Eve brushed herself off and turned to Lowe and Hagus.

"We cannot claim full responsibility. The ones who retrieved the El will be arriving any-"

"Elsword, Aisha, hurry up!" The lyrical melody of Rena's voice broke through the forest's edge and drifted into the village streets as a gentle breeze fluttered through her shimmering hair. As the forest sighed fondly, Aisha and Elsword stumbled onto the road behind her, panting heavily as they paused to catch their breath.

"Hold on... a second..." Elsword leaned forward and braced his hands against his knees while Aisha leaned against a tree just beside him.

"Yeah..." Aisha wiped a bead of sweat from her brow. "Do you know how much energy it takes to put up a barrier that strong around the El? We just need... a few minutes..."

"Oh?" Rena grinned deviously, "If you two need some time alone you can just say so, I'll go on ahead and tell everyone that you'll be along in a little while."

"N-No, that's not what we meant!" Elsword blushed lightly and shook his head out, hurrying on down the road as he and Aisha rushed past Rena and headed through the gates of Ruben village. As they reached the village square, the din of enthusiasm and excitement shifted and the crowd quickly encircled them.

"Elsword..." Lowe pushed his way through the crowd and stared, stunned. "You... you brought the El back..."

"Well, yeah..." Elsword scratched the side of his head and stretched his neck to the side. "I mean, I helped out and everything... What's that look for anyway? I said we'd bring it back, didn't I?"

"Heh..." Lowe reached down and ruffled Elsword's hair. "It took you long enough, you punk."

"Hey, quit it..." Elsword winced and pulled himself away from Lowe's trembling hand as Aisha giggled at his side.

"Ah, young lady, surely this was your doing." Hagus shuffled through the wall of bodies and nodded to Aisha. "I thank you for all that you've done for your village."

"Oh, no..." Aisha glanced aside, bashful. "Rena and Raven and Eve really did most of the work..."

"Hey!" Elsword grimaced and glared at Aisha, prompting to Hagus to break into a jovial laugh. As Lowe joined in with a bright chuckle, the whole of the village crowded in around them and began shouting questions and congratulations. After a few minutes of being completely overwhelmed, Chief Hagus parted the sea of people and raised his hands high, quieting the crowd.

"Everyone, please calm yourselves. This is indeed a glorious occasion and there is great cause for joy, but we must remember our present condition. It is already the third day of the planting season, and we have yet to even till the soil. We have to hurry and begin planting as soon as possible..." He waited for a moment, watching with solemn eyes as the villager's enthusiasm waned and the reality of their situation sunk in. As soon as he saw everyone's hearts sinking, however, Hagus smiled broadly. "That is why we cannot be wasting time here in the street, when we have to get ready for our Spring Festival. You know we can't start planting until we've had at least one good feast."

In just a few seconds, the crowd's sullen eyes brightened and the villagers jumped and shouted happily as they pulled their returning heroes toward the village hall and prepared them for the night's festivities. By nightfall, word had spread to the neighboring towns and all the forest's residents gathered together in Ruben's square beneath a blanket of stars, each feasting on pastries and sweetwater as they danced around a roaring bonfire and cheered. Weary from their work and relieved to see the village back in the realm of the living, Aisha, Elsword, Rena, Raven, and Eve sat atop a small dais as the townsfolk danced by and thanked them profusely. Smiling brightly, Rena bit into a ripe red pear and sighed happily.

"This turned out much better than I thought. It's been a long time since I could actually relax after so much fighting..."

Raven nodded solemnly. "Yeah..." He smiled slightly, content as he took a sip of bittersweet mead. "I can't remember the last time I was satisfied with a conclusion like this."

"What're you guys talking about?" Elsword tore into a slice of pear cake and swallowed almost immediately. "You're startin' to sound old."

Rena giggled sprightly and smiled as she leaned back onto her hands. "Sorry, I'm just relieved... I'm not used to finishing things with such a short list of casualties."

Plopping a large roasted cherry into her mouth, Aisha stared up at the sky and contemplated the price of their victory. "Hm... Yeah... There haven't been many, but still, I didn't really expect anyone to die when we started out. Although..." She pouted and huffed lightly. "We took most of the damage ourselves."

"...I apologize for the amount of trouble the nasod have caused you all." Eve lowered her head, staring blankly at the pastries heaped onto her plate as the passing dancers threw garlands and reeds at her feet. Nearly choking on her sweetwater, Aisha slammed her hand against the table as she cleared her throat and turned to Eve.

"You don't have to apologize for anything. Besides, it was that big jerk's fault in the first place."

"Mmfh-hmm." Elsword nodded as he chewed a mouthful of buttered cake, swallowing quickly to clear his throat. "I told him he'd get slapped if he kept messin' around like that."

"I-" Eve looked over to them and hesitated, nodding softly as she finally relaxed a bit. "Thank you..."

"They're right though." Raven set his mug down and stared up at the sky. "We'd still be stuck on that island, maybe even still inside the top of the mountain without you. And..." He breathed in slowly closed his eyes, scowling slightly. "I still have to thank you for fixing this arm."

"...I understand. If it ever causes you any further trouble, I will fix it immediately." She nodded slightly, her voice wavering as if she was unprepared to respond to Raven's gratitude. While Aisha and Elsword occupied themselves with the mound of fresh rolls on their plates, Rena leaned forward and peered across at Eve.

"Hey, Eve, why don't you come dance with me for a little bit? Oberon seems to be having a lot of fun down there." Rena pointed down to to the revelry below where Oberon pranced happily around the bonfire as children chased after him, tossing garlands onto his head and giggling as he spun and twirling about. Seeing her butler in such a state, Eve's eyes narrowed.

"...I will have to instruct him in the proper form of royal dance... later. For now, I would prefer to sit. T-thank you though, Rena..."

"Just let me know when you're up for it." Rena smiled broadly and took a sip of warm mead. "Oh, Eve, what are you going to do after the festival? Are you heading back right away?"

Eve shook her head slowly. "No. We will remain here until the villagers have finished their agricultural duties. We will return to Altera afterwards, to begin rebuilding the Core and to recover the other El that King Nasod stole and stored in his extractors. It will likely take several years to negotiate the purchase of that El from the principalities where it was taken..."

"I suppose so... There's no telling just how many villages like Ruben lost their El, and if they're still around. If you get lonely though, we'll come visit you~" Rena smiled softly and Eve blushed.

"I-I will not be lonely. H-however, if you insist, I would not object to seeing you all again..." She closed her eyes and sipped her tea delicately. "...What will you do now, Rena?"

"Ah, me? Hmm... I wonder..." She leaned back and poked Raven in the shoulder. "Well, I do have to keep this guy in line, so I'll probably have my hands full with that too."

"Why?" Raven blinked and glanced aside at her. "I'll be fine without supervision."

"Hmmm, really?" Rena grinned and took another sip of mead, staring coyly over her cup. "So you're planning to help rebuild Velder while also being their most wanted criminal, all on your own? Maybe I'll just come along to watch." She smiled cheerfully as Raven's voice caught in his throat and he averted his eyes.

"Nnn... I suppose you have a point there..." As Raven resigned himself to his criminal status, Rena giggled and turned back toward the end of the table. "Aisha, what about you? Where are you headed next?"

"Well..." She licked her fingers clean and took a swig of sweetwater, "Originally, I came here to relax and take a vacation and drink some of the spiced cider they make from the Ruben forest apples..." She shot Elsword a sidelong glance and gave him a stern glare. "So I'm not leaving until I get some."

"Er-" Elsword turned toward her, "You know they had to drink all that over the winter, right? There won't be any more cider till next fall."

"That's fine." Aisha closed her eyes as she chomped down on a honey covered biscuit. "I can wait."

"Wait- You're gonna stick around all year!?" Elsword nearly bolted from his seat, suddenly conscious of the mixed excitement and anxiety in his voice. "W-why? The cider's not that great..."

Aisha tried not smile and failed as her eyes met Elsword's, "So? You don't care where I go, right?"

"Shhhh~" Rena held her finger over her lips and winked, "You two can plan your dates for the rest of the year later. Eve's about to start the fireworks."

Blinking, Aisha and Elsword both turned toward her and stared blankly. "...Fireworks?"

"Please look up, and be sure to cover your ears if you have sensitive hearing." Eve slid a pair of sunglasses onto her face and ran her hands across her console, filling the sky with a brilliant burst of blue sparks and scarlet flames. The warm spring night embraced the subtle glow of gold and silver as a rain of thunderous echoes fell across the forest floor, glimmering against the haze of crisp smoke and festive cheer. As color splashed across the clouds and drowned in the sea of stars, Aisha leaned back and stared off into the depths of the night. A slight panic trickled down her spine when she realized that she might not be able to see everyone everyday anymore, but her fears quickly faded as a strange sort of certainty wrapped itself around her. By the look on Elsword's face, she could tell he was thinking just the same thing and she smiled as the warm breeze ruffled her hair and stirred the lanterns at her sides. Even if they were finished fighting against monstrous machines and obnoxious overlords, even if they were all going off to separate corners of the world, she was fully confident that they would see each other again.

* * *

Five months later, Ruben village was finally a lively, thriving hamlet once again and Lowe had just finished running a new field of recruits through their first month of training. With the forest villagers free to return to their homes, Elder had grown quiet and calm, though the newly elected Mayor Hoffman was still running around the city frantically each and every day, still busy resolving the chaos left behind from Lord Wally's rule. Overall, things were peaceful in the city and all around. Peaceful, with the occasional exception of lunchtime in Elder's market square.

Today, as the sun beat down upon the cobbled roads and scorched the dry earth, Elsword and Aisha sat down to eat at a crowded streetside booth where each patron was busy enjoying a mountainous platter of glazed meat and fried potatoes. After plowing through two plates each, Aisha and Elsword were nearly satisfied and the cook was at once amazed and horrified.

"Hey, old man, can I get two sweet kebabs?" Elsword slapped a few coins down on the counter as the middle-aged cook glared at him bitterly and handed over a pair of steaming kebabs, filled with fried meats and dripping with a sweet, succulent sauce. As Aisha reached for one of the kebabs, Elsword swiped them both and chomped down on the end of one.

"Hey!" Aisha pouted and glared fiercely. "You can't keep both! Those are the last two they had!" She leaned over and reached across Elsword, grabbing for the remaining kebab as he held it high over head and just out of her reach.

"Mnff, Iss not yors! Getchyur ofn!"

"You-" Aisha lunged and nearly knocked them both off of their stools. "You took the last creamroll this morning! You owe me-" She grabbed his arm and tried to pull it down, struggling against him as the other patrons stared uncomfortably at their quarrel. As Elsword chewed on the kebab in his mouth, a spark of inspiration struck Aisha and she grinned, reaching down quickly and pulling the kebab from Elsword's mouth and biting into it happily.

"Ah!" Elsword glowered darkly. "Give that back!"

Aisha quickly slid the rest of the meat onto her plate and began chomping it down with a satisfied hum. "Mmm... this is so tasty..." She turned aside to Elsword and smirked. "Don't worry, I'll buy you ice cream later so stop glaring at me like that."

"Hmph..." Elsword surrendered, unwilling to give up easily but more than willing to accept free ice cream on a day when the heat of day had driven almost everyone indoors. As he dug into his last snack of the afternoon, a broad shadow fell across their backs and a gruff voice called out to them.

"Excuse me. Are you Aisha and Elsword, the ones who retrieved Ruben's El?"

"Huh?" Elsword turned around to see a tall, haggard soldier from far to the south, clad in armor that was far too warm for this part of the world. "Yeah, what's up?"

Panting and wiping the sweat from his brow, the soldier reached into his belt pocket and produced a small, tattered letter. "This... is for the two of you."

"Oh, hey, it's from Rena..." Elsword peeled off the letter's seal and opened it, holding it at his side as he and Aisha scanned its contents. Initially apprehensive, they finished the letter quickly and, as they reached the last line, a pair of broad grins answered Rena's urgent request.

"Oh? This sounds like it could be fun." Aisha happily polished off the last of her meal and hopped down to the ground, stretching her arms out above her as Elsword pocketed Rena's letter and joined her.

"Heh, yeah. I've never been to Feita before. Let's go."

* * *

Whispering waves swelled and swirled in the shadow of Altera as it hovered just over the ocean's surface, still encompassed by the light of El though with decidedly less intensity than it had been a few months before. Standing in the wind as the sea spray washed against her face, Eve watched as a small crane on the shore reeled in a thick steel chain that dove deep into the water below. Reconstruction was proceeding, albeit slowly, and Eve was just now retrieving the last of the debris from the nasod fleet that had fallen into the sea. Fortunately, since every ship had exploded in the air, almost all of their toxic fuel had burned off before the ships sank beneath the waves. Still, a significant amount of valuable metal and El was still resting on the ocean floor, and Eve would need every spare scrap to rebuild the Core and the foundry.

As the crane drew its cargo up from the water's surface. At the end of the line, Oberon was wrapped tightly in chains and rope, holding a pile of rusted metals and fragmented El in his arms as he gradually rose up to the island's surface. Growling quietly, the crane swung Oberon over a large heap of rust and machinery and he opened his arms swiftly, dropping another mound of metal onto the mountain of scrap.

"Good work, I believe that may be the last of it. I shall release you after I finish scanning the ocean floor."

Oberon nodded happily as he swung in the breeze and Eve studied her console, scouring her sonar readouts for any sign of scrap metal or El left in the sea. Having spent almost every day of the past four months dredging the ocean floor, she was beginning to wonder if they would ever clear away all the debris and retrieve every heart from the nasod that had been loaded on the fleet, but with nothing but clear screens all around, it seemed as if the first phase of Altera's reconstruction was finally complete. Just as Eve was about to close her console, a faint signal rang out from the surface.

"What is this... Metal, El, and it's movement...! Is it a nasod?" Eve's eyes went wide and she immediately swung Oberon back over the ocean and dropped him down into the sea foam. Rushing to the cliffside, Eve stared over the grassy ledge and down into the murky grey waters below. For a few moments, there was no sign of life at all as the cool sea breeze swept across Eve's face and fell across the plains. Then, after a sharp turn, Oberon tugged on his chain and Eve started the crane up, hauling him up with whatever creature he retrieved from the rushing waves.

As soon as Oberon cross the horizon and hovered over the island's edge, Eve was robbed of all speech. In her butler's arms lay a small creature covered in shining white armor, its chest and arms adorned in with brilliant streaks of blue. At a glance, Eve couldn't tell if she was looking at a human, or a nasod, or something else entirely. As she drew closer, she noticed the massive cannon clutched tightly in the creature's right hand, its barrel glowing faintly as seawater dripped from its side. Cautiously, she reached forward and brushed aside the ragged blue plume that rose from its head, uncovering its dark, hollow eyes. As Eve stared, transfixed by the sheen of ivory and sapphire, the creature suddenly shifted in Oberon's arms and opened its eyes.

* * *

Author's Afterword: Good Morning everyone! With this chapter, we finally conclude the first season of The Breathless World! Thank you all for your wonderful reviews and comments, I've been so glad every time I read them ^_^ Now that the Altera Arc is finished, I'll be going on a short Hiatus for a couple months while I buckle down and finish up the semester at school and work on a few other fics, but I shall return! Thank you again for being such wonderful readers!


	35. Reconstruction

Reconstruction

* * *

Whispering waves swelled and swirled in the shadow of Altera as it hovered just over the ocean's surface, still encompassed by the light of El though with decidedly less intensity than it had been a few months before. Standing in the wind as the sea spray washed against her face, Eve watched as a small crane on the shore reeled in a thick steel chain that dove deep into the water below. Reconstruction was proceeding, albeit slowly, and Eve was just now retrieving the last of the debris from the nasod fleet that had fallen into the sea. Fortunately, since every ship had exploded in the air, almost all of their toxic fuel had burned off before the ships sank beneath the waves. Still, a significant amount of valuable metal and El was still resting on the ocean floor, and Eve would need every spare scrap to rebuild the Core and the foundry.

As the crane drew its cargo up from the water's surface. At the end of the line, Oberon was wrapped tightly in chains and rope, holding a pile of rusted metals and fragmented El in his arms as he gradually rose up to the island's surface. Growling quietly, the crane swung Oberon over a large heap of rust and machinery and he opened his arms swiftly, dropping another mound of metal onto the mountain of scrap.

"Good work, I believe that may be the last of it. I shall release you after I finish scanning the ocean floor."

Oberon nodded happily as he swung in the breeze and Eve studied her console, scouring her sonar readouts for any sign of scrap metal or El left in the sea. Having spent almost every day of the past four months dredging the ocean floor, she was beginning to wonder if they would ever clear away all the debris and retrieve every heart from the nasod that had been loaded on the fleet, but with nothing but clear screens all around, it seemed as if the first phase of Altera's reconstruction was finally complete. Just as Eve was about to close her console, a faint signal rang out from the surface.

"What is this... Metal, El, and it's movement...! Is it a nasod?" Eve's eyes went wide and she immediately swung Oberon back over the ocean and dropped him down into the sea foam. Rushing to the cliffside, Eve stared over the grassy ledge and down into the murky grey waters below. For a few moments, there was no sign of life at all as the cool sea breeze swept across Eve's face and fell across the plains. Then, after a sharp turn, Oberon tugged on his chain and Eve started the crane up, hauling him up with whatever creature he retrieved from the rushing waves.

As soon as Oberon cross the horizon and hovered over the island's edge, Eve was robbed of all speech. In her butler's arms lay a small creature covered in shining white armor, its chest and arms adorned in with brilliant streaks of blue. At a glance, Eve couldn't tell if she was looking at a human, or a nasod, or something else entirely. As she drew closer, she noticed the massive cannon clutched tightly in the creature's right hand, its barrel glowing faintly as seawater dripped from its side. Cautiously, she reached forward and brushed aside the ragged blue plume that rose from its head, uncovering its dark, hollow eyes. As Eve stared, transfixed by the sheen of ivory and sapphire, the creature suddenly shifted in Oberon's arms and its chest heaved forward, convulsing violently as the creature coughed and spat up a mix of sea water and sickly red slime.

_It does not appear to be oil... Is it blood? _As Eve drew closer, the creature arched its back and gasped sharply, its limbs falling limp at its side and its breath extinguished. The moment the creature stopped moving, Eve's eyes went wide and she immediately turned to Oberon.

"Quickly, take him inside!" Eve pointed to the old palace gates and Oberon nodded, rushing off with the creature in hand as its cannon finally slipped out of its lifeless hands.

* * *

Deep within the mountain, inside a lower wing of the nasod imperial palace that Eve had restored to working order, Oberon lay the unknown beast on a long table and quickly attached an array of electrical sensors to the lifeless form before him. A moment later, Eve arrived with a case of surgical tools and a massive toolkit, dropping them alongside the table as she opened her console and scanned the creature's vital signs. For a brief second, all screens came up blank. Then, faintly, a quick flickering caught Eve's attention.

"There is still electrical activity in its nerves." Eve glanced over the mass of ivory steel that lay before her, the dim flicker of its life fading every second. With its body covered in steel and saltwater, electrical resuscitation would likely do more harm than good, and with no opening for its mouth, there was no way to force air into its lungs. Just when the last timid pulse of life faded from Eve's monitor, she held her hands out and gathered a massive sphere of El energy between her fingers, thrusting them into the huge El crystal encased in the creatures armor. As the shock poured into the El, a dozen monitors suddenly filled with light and color as the creature writhed and clenched its fists, coughing once more and groaning in pain. As the sound of its desperate gasps mingled with the rapid chirping of Eve's equipment, the creature rolled onto its side, reached for its head, and pulled away its face.

Still stunned as much from shock as from her intense curiosity, Eve stared as the layers of shining steel armor pulled themselves apart, shifting, twisting, folding, and finally opening to reveal the body of a young human boy. Pale and shivering, the boy sat up and clutched the side of the table for support as he coughed up a mouthful of water and blood.

"Are you injured anywhere? Can you speak?" Eve's voice was quickly drowned out by the fierce echo of a painful cough and a trembling gasp. For nearly a minute, the boy struggled to form an answer, his voice lost among the coarse gurgling in his throat as he squinted and winced in pain.

"W-Whe-" A fit of heavy panting interrupted his first fragmented words as he finally opened his eyes and stared at Eve anxiously. "Where- Where is my Destroyer!? Where are we right now!?" He coughed again, a tiny stream of blood spilling from the corner of his mouth as his eyes darted around the room. "I have... I have to get back..."

Eve looked up from her console and spoke quietly as Oberon tried to gently guide the boy back onto the table. "Please do not try to move. Your condition is still unstable, it will take some time before you are able to travel."

Heedless of Eve's caution, the boy slipped out of Oberon's grasp and hopped down onto the floor. The moment his feet hit the ground, he began to stumble forward, fainting almost immediately and falling headlong into Eve. Catching him just before he collapsed completely, Eve felt a sudden, fragile warmth as his forehead fell against her chest. Even without taking a full measure, she could tell immediately that his temperature was dangerously high.

"Oberon!" At Eve's command, Oberon hurried to her side and waited expectantly. "He has a high fever. Take him to the guest room and watch him closely. I will gather the necessary medicine from the village, but I may not return for a few hours. Tell me immediately if his condition changes."

Nodding quickly, Oberon scooped the boy up in his arms and carried him away, leaving Eve alone with the eerie, dripping shell of the boy's armor. Time was in short supply and the boys situation was critical; Eve knew this, and while she told herself repeatedly to hurry off to the Ponggo village, she couldn't tear her eyes away from the strange, mechanical skin that lay splayed open on the table before her. Not only were its circuits similar to those of the nasod, but the symbols engraved into the armor's core seemed somehow familiar. Eve was certain that she had seen them within the Core itself, though she couldn't say where. Shaking her head quickly, she pushed her suspicions aside and hurried out of the palace and into the warm summer night.

* * *

"Nnngh..." A soft moan disappeared into the darkness as the young boy opened his eyes and raised his head. As soon as he pulled himself up, a sea of thought poured through his mind in an instant, overflowing and drowning him in an overwhelming flood of broken screams and strangled cries. Awash in a storm of unfinished memories, his head began to throb and ache so sharply that he thought his skull would break and his eyes would burst. Pressing his hands against his forehead, he felt the light chill of cold sweat on his palms as he cringed and clenched his jaw, doubling over as another surge of pain shot through his spine. When his headaches finally subsided, he rolled down off of the tiny, tattered bed he had been laying on and looked around, rubbing his eyes as his surroundings slowly came into focus.

A sickening knot grew in his stomach as he surveyed the room; the walls seemed to squirm and slither, as if a thick wall of black mud was constantly oozing from the ceiling and falling through the floor, the ceiling wavered rapidly as if it was the surface of a dense, oil-soaked ocean, and the ground trembled and sank with his every step. If this was any place he had ever been before, he had no memory of it. Still dizzy and disoriented, he reached down and sifted through the sludge covered ground and found the handle to his cannon, pulling with all his strength to raise it out of the thick, dark muck below. Just when he had almost raised his weapon to the surface, another chorus of desperate shouts and bloodthirsty howls rang through his ears, sending him reeling back in agony as his cannon sunk deep into an unseen abyss. As the screams and wails grew louder and louder, anguish and dread mounted within him as he thrust his arms deep into the tar and pitch at his feet, reaching blindly for his weapon as the ground closed in around his elbows and held them fast. Realizing that his arms were trapped, the boy began to panic. The moment he started to struggle, the seething walls suddenly stopped pouring through the floor and instead began to flood the room, drowning the boy in tar and pitch and water black as night while the ground below opened to swallow him whole.

Breathing heavily, the boy's eyes shot open as sweat streamed down his forehead. Hovering overhead, a stern voice and a warm light had pulled him from his nightmare and called him back to the waking world.

"Your fever seems to have broken." Glancing over from the corner of the room, Eve turned away from her console just as the boy bolted upright and shook his head out. Rising to her feet, she spread out an array of dimly pulsing monitors in front of her and nodded. "Good. Your brain waves have stabilized as well. Are you in any pain?"

"I-" The boy looked around the room slowly, steadying his breath and relaxing once he realized that he was finally awake. "No, I'm fine... I think. Where- Nngh..." A sharp pain pierced his side, causing him to wince and cringe. Raising his hand to his side, he felt a smooth sheath of gauze and tape covering his ribs.

"Do not strain yourself. Your injuries have not yet fully healed." Eve approached his bedside and shifted two small displays toward him, each mapping the broken bones and open wounds scattered throughout his body. "You are on Altera, in the imperial palace of the Nasod. Three days ago, we retrieved you from the sea and you have been unconscious since then." She paused, waiting for the boy to finish studying the charts and discovering his many injuries. When he finally took note of her silence, she continued. "Do you remember how you got stranded in the ocean? There have been no ships in this region for several months."

"Ah, yeah..." He centered himself and smoothed out the tangled threads of his disheveled hair. "Sorry, and thank you, for taking care of me. I am Chung Seiker, first crown prince of Hamel." Straightening his spine as best he could, Chung bowed his head slightly and a weak smile spread across his face.

"Prince...?" Eve blinked, taking only a second to consider the importance of his position before turning and shouting into the hallway. "Oberon! Initiate emergency diplomatic protocols!"

Almost instantly, Oberon appeared in the doorway with a tray of tea and brightly colored petits fours, quickly crossed the room and pulled a chair up to Chung's bedside, pouring two cups and tea and presenting them to his guest and then to his queen.

"Oh, thank you." Chung accepted the cup and took a small sip, grabbing a large chocolate petit four and popping it into his mouth.

Sitting in the chair beside the bed, Eve nodded and followed suit, her voice and demeanor now stately and inviting as she began her very first diplomatic meeting with the ruler of another nation. "I am Eve, Queen of the Nasod. I am pleased to make your acquaintance." She paused anxiously after that last sentence, unsure of whether she sounded pleasant or severe. _I will have to ask Rena to evaluate my negotiation skills when I see her again..._

Chung nodded calmly, popping another petit four into his mouth and tipping his cup back gently. "I didn't realize there were still Nasod around. You don't look anything like what I imagined, but I guess it makes more sense that you'd look just like everyone else after all."

Eve blinked. "You are not surprised? You are not shocked to hear that the Nasod still exist?" She stared in disbelief at Chung's calm and casual expression as he chomped down another pair of confections and shook his head.

"Not really. I always heard that Nasod were a lot more like giants, so I wasn't expecting you to be the size of a human, but I guess I've seen enough strange things that I'm not easily surprised anymore..." His voice trailed off as a faint memory crossed through the background of his thoughts, his gaze drifting down to the floor as the shadows of flame and floodwater flickered across his eyes. "Ah!" He jerked his head up abruptly, looking to Eve apologetically. "I didn't mean it to sound like I was calling you strange though! Nasod have always been part of this world so it's only natural that you'd be here, I just-"

"It is alright." Eve took a sip of tea, sensing Chung's sudden guilt and anxiety. "I am not offended. You have already been more accepting of me than many others in the past..." A strange sensation struck her, as though she were somehow unexpectedly satisfied by this development. Dismissing that thought as another internal error, she turned the subject back to Chung's earlier words. She knew her question would be vague, just as his testimony had been, but the traces of remorse and regret in his voice left her with a lingering suspicion. "What do you mean when you say that you have seen many strange things?"

"...I should probably start from the beginning." Chung emptied his cup and set it aside, lowering his face and resting his hands atop his legs. "Do you know about my country, about Hamel?"

Eve shook her head. "I apologize. Until recently, I had been asleep for several hundred years and I am not yet familiar with the current state of world politics."

Chung smiled faintly. "That's okay. I guess the details aren't too important. Hamel's far to the east, on Fluone, and it's been a really strong kingdom for many years. It's been over fifty years since we were involved in a real war, but..." His face darkened and he began to scowl. "...a few months ago, we were caught off guard and attacked by things we'd never seen before. They're huge and powerful, with a face like a dog's and bright yellow eyes... we didn't know what else to call them but 'demons'. One day, a giant gate opened outside of our water temple and they swarmed the whole area before the guards could even call for help. After they took control of the temple, the demons flooded the country and then besieged every place that was still above water... I..." Biting his lip and clenching his fists, Chung's eyes were drenched in a haze of frustration and sorrow. "...I lost... I couldn't protect the people in the capital, or the generals, or even my father... I failed... and that's when I was washed out to sea..."

As Chung's voice weakened and faded, Eve sat in pensive silence. Though she understood his situation well and the memory of her own lost empire was still painfully vivid, she was unsure of how to respond to his distress. Setting aside her tea, she closed her eyes for a moment before turning to Chung with a solemn resolve.

"Although I do not know the circumstances of your country, you are free to remain on Altera for as long as you like. We will do everything in our power to help you recover."

For just an instant, a faint sense of relief spread across Chung's face and he smiled softly "Thank you, Miss Eve. Oh, wait, should I call you Your Majesty?"

"I-" Eve hesitated, suddenly aware of her complete lack of knowledge on human diplomatic etiquette. "That will not be necessary... I think."

Chung nodded. "Were you the one who pulled me out of the ocean?"

Eve shook her head slowly. "No, that was Oberon." She pointed to Chung's bedside where Oberon still knelt, holding the tray of tea and snacks in the absence of an end table. "He has also been watching over you for the past three days."

"Then, Thank you too, Oberon." Chung turned to Oberon and bowed his head, sending Oberon into a fit of joy, fidgeting and nodding as the tea tray clattered in his trembling hands. As he continued his jubilations, Chung blinked and glanced aside awkwardly, unsure of whether or not he had just done something to break his caretaker's brain.

"Do not mind him." Eve retrieved her cup of tea and took a small sip. "Oberon is not used to receiving compliments from humans. It may take him several dozen years to adapt at this rate."

"I-is that it?" Chung stared uneasily as Oberon hopped to his feet and began dancing and twirling about happily. "Well... then, I will accept your kindness and stay here until I recover. After that, though, I must return to Hamel and-" Chung scanned the room quickly and then turned back to Eve. "Where is my Freuturnier? And my Destroyer? Did you find them when you rescued me?"

Eve blinked, puzzled for a moment as Chung looked around the room anxiously and finally realizing what it was that he was looking for. "Do you mean the armor and cannon you were carrying?"

"Yes!" Chung bolted forward, his eyes wide with urgency. "Where are they!?"

"I have stored them in the engineering wing. I will have Oberon bring them here-"

"No, please," Chung swung his feet over the side of the bed and panted heavily as a sudden faintness overtook him. "Please take me to them."

"...Very well." Eve nodded and stood, returning her cup to the tray and closing her console and signaling to Oberon as she rose. "You should not try to walk on your own though. Oberon will carry you."

Nodding promptly, Oberon set aside the tea tray and scooped Chung up from the bed, lifting him into his arms and following Eve out into the hall as Chung struggled in vain against Oberon's grasp.

"Wait, no, I'm fine, I don't need to- Nnggh..." As he tried to slip down onto his feet, a dull, staggering pain burst through Chung's spine and left his legs numb for a moment. Still somewhat unwilling, he ceased his protest and tried not to move as Oberon carried him down the darkened halls of the Nasod imperial palace. Though their present surroundings were in immaculate condition and more than suitable for royalty, at every intersection he caught a glimpse of a dark, rusted corridor in the distance, the ruins of a long dead empire left to sleep in the heart of the mountain for a thousand years. For a moment, Chung began to wonder if Hamel would look that way one day, its ivory gates crumbled and covered in moss and ash, the colossal royal court buried beneath the sand and waves.

Just as the fire and steel of battle seeped back into his thoughts, Eve stopped and opened a pair of broad double doors, revealing her workshop and the new entrance to Altera's Core. Beyond shelves and racks of wires and tools, beyond a stream of dimly flickering lights and brightly glowing shards of El, Chung's armor, his Freuturnier, lay open atop Eve's workbench and his Destroyer stood alongside. Sliding down from Oberon's arms and leaning against him for support, Chung took a minute to survey his armor before sighing in relief.

"Good..." His shoulders relaxed and he reached forward, touching the shimmering circuits on the inner edge of his armor. "It doesn't look like it was damaged by the water..."

"I am curious about this." Eve approached and joined him in surveying the strange symbols carved into the Freuturnier's interior. "This armor is more similar to Nasod technology than that of humans or elves, and your weapon is almost the same as those used in the wars of the Last Day..."

"It's-" Chung slipped and fell forward, catching himself on the edge of the table and leaning over his Freuturnier as he explained. "It's hard to explain. My family has used this sort of armor for hundreds of years, and I know everything about how it works, but I don't know how we first created it." He ran his finger across the inside of the Freuturnier and a stream of faint, blue lights scattered across its surface, forming a series of carefully carved runes. "The movement of it is all mechanical engineering, but it uses the El as a power source. For a long time, we weren't able to focus the El's energy very efficiently though, and our Destroyers were much smaller and much weaker up until my grandfather's time. When a group of traveling knights passed through, they taught us about runecraft and we started adding these symbols to our Freuturnier and our Destroyers. It channels the El's energy through a formula of runes just like a spell, so the output is a lot higher and a lot easier to direct..." He turned aside to Eve, a bit bashful. "S-sorry, I'm rambling on about this, aren't I?"

"No, please continue." Eve swept aside his concern with a stern glance. "I would like to know as much as possible about these runes."

"About the runes?" Chung paused, searching back through his memory. "I can't tell you much about them. We always just copied the formulas grandfather left behind, so I don't know how to use them on my own. Why do you ask?"

"That..." Eve hesitated, closing her eyes and then gazing toward the entrance to the Core. "...I told you before that I was asleep for many years. During that time, I appointed a successor to watch over Altera, but he ignored my orders and tried to build an army of Nasod in order to wage war against humans. When we finally confronted and destroyed him, he used large runes like these and giant El energy extractors to produce high energy magic."

She stopped abruptly. Now that she knew how runes were first integrated into Hamel's Freuturnier, she had reached several possible conclusions about how King Nasod had found that same technology and few of those possibilities involved a friendly, mutual exchange. While Chung and Oberon watched and waited for her to continue, she steeled her nerves and carried on. "It is likely that some of your citizens or soldiers may have drifted to Altera within the past two generations. It... is also likely that they did not leave the island alive." Grisly scenes of experimentation and execution flashed through Eve's memory, the illustrations of what she feared had taken place under King Nasod's rule.

"Miss Eve, it's not your fault." Chung's eyes were steady and resolute as he peered deep into her own. "That isn't something you had control over, right? There might have just been some broken Freuturnier drifting in the sea without anyone inside. And even if some of my people were killed by the former King, you've already brought their killer to justice so, I think, they would be happy with that."

Stunned, Eve could only stare, overwhelmed by the sudden warmth and lightness welling up within her. Nodding slowly, she hurried to compose herself, making a note to run a full diagnostic scan of her systems in light of the many strange sensations she had experienced since rescuing Chung.

"P-perhaps you are right..."

Chung smiled warmly as he leaned back onto Oberon's shoulder. "I'm sure of it." As he smiled, Eve blushed lightly, caught unprepared by Chung's reassurance. Completely oblivious, Chung turned his attention toward his destroyer, checking the nicks and scratches on its surface for any signs of serious damage. As he finished his inspection, a small, bright picture frame caught his eye and he glanced over at the wall above Eve's workbench. Within the frame, a faintly glowing monitor held the image of Eve, blushing intensely as three people surrounded her in a friendly huddle and another stood just at her side.

"Ah, are those your friends?" Chung pointed to the picture and Eve nearly panicked, as though she was already teetering off balance and had just been given a strong shove. Blushing, she glanced aside and turned away.

"T-they are my comrades, the ones who helped me defeat King Nasod and reclaim Altera. That..." She looked over at the picture of Rena, Aisha, and Elsword gathered around her with Raven reluctantly standing close behind them, "That picture is to commemorate our victory and their alliance with the Nasod empire." She held her voice level, trying her best to maintain an air of objectivity in spite of her rosy cheeks.

"Yeah..." Chung stared aimlessly, his voice echoing softly against the high stone ceiling. "I think I understand how you feel about them. In Hamel, there are a lot of people who are important to me, and I want to protect them... but more than just the people I know, I need to protect everyone, all the people who are relying on me as their prince." A solemn gravity tinted his voice as he spoke, his eyes reflecting both a deep regret and a firm resolve. As he continued to stare off into the distance, Eve gathered herself and turned toward him, her face now calm and stern.

"That is understandable. As the leaders of our nations, our power exists to protect our people and to bring them prosperity. By birth and by our own choosing, our lives are not entirely our own. I have heard the Ponggos say that this is a tragic and undesirable condition, but..." Eve looked out across her workshop, her eyes passing over the shelves and stockpiles full of Nasod hearts waiting to return to the Core. "... I believe that it is a good thing that I am their queen, and I have no desire to ever abandon my responsibilities."

"Yeah, I feel the same." Chunk nodded and leaned forward, nearly falling as he reached for his Destroyer. Moving swiftly, Oberon caught him as he tumbled forward and slowly lowered him toward his cannon. "Oh- Sorry. Thanks, Oberon..."

Nodding and saluting energetically, Oberon stood back at attention while Chung ran his hands over his Destroyer and tapped its loose outer panels. "I'm still not strong enough to protect everyone though... I need to be as strong as possible, so that nobody in Hamel has to get hurt anymore."

"That is impossible." Eve moved around the Destroyer to face him, a faint trace of remorse tinting her voice. "Even if you were the strongest human ever to live, it is impossible to prevent everyone from being hurt. Even in just a single instant, it is possible for thousands of people to die and sometimes it is all that we can do just to save one person. Sometimes, we cannot even do that..."

Chung's hand slid down the side of his cannon and dropped to the floor, his resolve wavering as Eve spoke. "I... I know, but still, I can't ever accept anyone being hurt when I might be able to protect them, even if I won't be able to protect everyone all the time, I have to protect as many people as I can, for as long as I'm able to. It's not just that I don't want them to get hurt..." He pulled himself up and held himself steady, leaning on his Destroyer to keep his balance. "Even though we've made a lot of progress in the past hundred years, there are still a lot of people in Hamel who struggle just to survive, especially when there's a drought or a flood or a hurricane hits. If I can keep people safe though, then they won't have to worry about whether or not they'll live through the next day and they can focus on helping their family and their neighbors. I want to be stronger, so that no one in Hamel ever has to spend their life being afraid of losing everything they've worked so hard to build."

Eve listened intently, now fully aware that Chung felt the same burdens, the same determinations, and the same desire to protect his people as Eve felt for the Nasod. Reaching into the nearest supply chest, she pulled out a large toolkit and hefted it up onto her workbench, pulling out a soldering iron and offering it to Chung. "Very well. While you are here on Altera, you will have the full support of the Nasod empire. We will help you save your people."

As soon as Chung heard those words, his eyes brightened instantly and a grateful smile spread across his face. "Thank you. I swear, one day, I'll definitely return the favor."

* * *

Several weeks passed as Eve and Chung studied his Destroyer, modifying its energy output and enhancing its overall durability. Thanks to the restorative functions of his Freuturnier, Chung's rehabilitation took only thirteen days and he was quickly up and about, sparring with Oberon each morning before heading into the mountain to help Eve excavate the remainder of the Core. As the damp tropical winds of midsummer swirled across Altera and drowned the island in a haze of fog and rain, the prince of Hamel and the queen of the Nasod worked tirelessly toward the restoration of both nations.

In the late hours of a sweltering summer night, Eve sat at her workbench debugging the Core's environmental controls which she had only just fixed an hour earlier. As her fingers flew over her keyboard and the moon hovered high overhead, a shrill siren pierced the evening's calm as a large monitor opened up at Eve's side, a brief and urgent message scrawled across its surface. Even without reading the message, the sender's name alone was enough to draw Eve's full attention; 'Rena' lay at the bottom of the letter, signed in a single, elegant stroke. Without hesitation, Eve called for Oberon and the two of them headed out onto the plains.

With the moon nearly full and shining brilliantly among the stars, there was scarcely a inch of Altera's plains that was lost to the dark. Standing in the shadow of a tall boulder, Chung gripped his Destroyer tightly as the moonlight gleamed across his armor and danced across his hands. Slinging his cannon onto his shoulder, he charged forward, ramming into solid rock and pushing with all his strength. As he forced himself forward, the boulder began to crack, splinter, and finally, as he shifted his weight and pulled the trigger on his Destroyer, a powerful blast shattered the mass of stone into hundreds of tiny pieces. Standing back and catching his breath, he frowned slightly.

"Mmn... The output's not high enough on the consecutive bursts... I wonder if we could rig a heat sink inside so that the power didn't drop off with continuous fire..." He set his Destroyer down in front of him and opened up a panel on its side, fiddling with its circuits and wires while he waited for the barrel to cool down. As he sat tinkering, the soft swaying of reeds caught his attention and he turned to see Eve and Oberon standing in the field behind him, the stars shining against their gleaming skin. With the warm summer breeze blowing through her hair, Eve stepped through the reeds and made her way toward Chung, holding her voice steady against the whistling wind.

"Chung. There is an urgent matter that Oberon and I must attend to. We may be gone for several weeks. Please feel free to use any of our resources and materials while we are gone."

"Gone?" Chung closed his Destroyer up and removed his helmet, allowing his long, disheveled hair to spill over his shoulders. "Is something wrong?"

Eve nodded. "Our comrades... the people you saw in the picture in the engineering bay, they are in danger. Do not worry, I will return as quickly as possible."

"Wait..." Chung grabbed his cannon and hefted up onto his back. "Let me go with you. If your friends need help, then I want to come with you."

Eve shook her head. "I cannot ask you to do that. We will be traveling into an active battlefield and I cannot guarantee your safety."

"Don't worry about me." Chung wiped the sweat from his brow and held his ground firmly. "Even if it's more dangerous, it can't be as bad as fighting the demons in Hamel and I'll be able to get more experience fighting real enemies than breaking rocks. And, more than that..." His eyes met Eve's, a calm determination reflected in his gaze, "If you're going somewhere dangerous like that, the very least I can do is to act as your shield along with Oberon."

Once again caught off guard, Eve blinked and hesitated. Even after almost two months, she was completely unprepared to such bold and direct declarations. With no further cause to deny him, Eve decided to accept his offer and, perhaps foolishly, she felt confident that he would be safe under her care, even in the midst of battle. With the night sky shining overhead, Eve nodded and delivered her answer. "...Very well then. Pack your things and prepare for a long journey. We will leave for Feita immediately."


	36. Remnant

Remnant

* * *

Fierce shrieks and the echo of clashing steel rose over the ruins of Feita, shattering the calm of a midsummer's night and staining the ancient stone with blood and bile. Burning in the shadows, a pair of gleaming, ravenous eyes bounded through the ruined halls and crumbling courtyards, close on the heels of a troupe of soldiers in a desperate retreat.

"Fall back! We'll hold them at the gates!" The Royal Guard, Lento, shouted back toward his soldiers as they scrambled away from the horrifying crunching and scraping that followed in their wake. As they rushed toward the light of a distant fire, the flood of darkness and glistening fangs closed in around them, snapping at their shields and lashing out with bloodied claws and blades. Racing around a dark corner, one of the newest recruits stumbled and fell to his knees, his voice overcome with terror as he faltered and the shadows swirled around him.

"No! No, no, no!" As the soldier scurried across the ground, a swift silver flash swung over his back as Lento cut the throat of a demonic beast, his gleaming blade splashed with thick, black blood.

"Get up!" Lento reached down and pulled the recruit up by his shoulder and dragged him down the corridor. "If you waste time screaming, you'll end up like them." Lento tilted his head toward a ghastly fence of corpses atop the chapel's inner wall, their limbs mangled and their faces maimed beyond recognition.

"Y-Yes, sir!" Steadying himself, the recruit ran with all his might, his heavy armor clattering loudly as he and Lento hurried to join the rest of their comrades. As soon as all the soldiers were together again, Lento pointed silently at a darkened doorway, the last open passage to the grand gates and their only hope of survival. As they hurtled desperately toward the exit, a creeping, ominous unease swept through their ranks. With just a single foot beyond the threshold, the soldier on point suddenly froze, leaping back and raising her shield to block the heavy blow of a demon's axe.

"Get back! This way's blocked too!"

Lento scoffed and looked around quickly, directing his troops to a high wall on the far side of the courtyard. "Everyone to the wall, backs together!"

Trembling and clutching their blades as though they were holding their very hearts in their palms, the soldiers gathered together with their backs to the wall, spread out in the shape of a half moon as gleaming eyes and gnashing teeth filled the shadows all around them. Growls and shrieks rumbled in the dark, their echoes mounting until all sound melted into a single, terrible roar. Then, silence. The eyes gleaming in the dark closed one by one and their cries of malice faded in an instant as a piercing howl rattled the ground and stirred the shadows into a frenzy of fierce snarls and blood-chilling screams. Emerging from the dark and advancing slowly, a host of unearthly beasts poured into the faint firelight, their monstrous fangs bared and bloodied as they approached Lento and his soldiers.

"Sir!?" A panicking soldier glanced aside to Lento, hoping for even the slightest reassurance. "What's the plan?"

Closing his eyes for a moment, Lento flourished his blade and fixed his gaze on the approaching tide of steel and malice. "Kill as many as you can, for the glory of the Lady..."

His words robbed the recruits of their final doubts; today would certainly be the day of their deaths. With their fragile resolve instilled in their quivering blades, they quietly accepted their fate and prepared for a painful end. As they raised their weapons and the first wave of demons charged toward them, a brilliant steam of light shot through the air and knocked away their attackers. Hesitant, the demons paused and stepped back, searching for the source of the sudden attack as Lento lowered his blade and smiled.

"No, on second thought, just stand out of the way and watch. The 'captains' are here..."

The troops' morale soared immediately, the pallor in their faces replaced with bright grins and confident relief as the demons finally fixed their gaze on their new opponents. Standing high atop the outer wall, a pair of silhouettes cast their shadows over the roaring crowd as the demons below huddled together and slowly backed away. Wrapped in the pristine armor of Feita's Royal knights, the two brandished their shining silver blade and bow, ready to strike at the horde below.

"Trapped again?" The deep timbre of Raven's voice filled the night as he stepped into the firelight. "They really want your head on a pike, don't they?"

"They're overreacting." Lento rolled his shoulder and grinned. "I only killed two of their commanders today, and they get this worked up."

"I'd rather not kill any of them..." Rena sighed as her hair fluttered in the warm summer breeze, "...though we're not really given much choice, are we? Raven?"

Glancing aside, she waited for Raven to nod quickly and draw his sword. "Let's go."

Cutting through the tense standoff in an instant, Rena leapt down from the wall and buried her heel in a demon's face, knocking it to the ground as she spun quickly and kicked away the demons within her reach, jumping back into the air and unleashing a stream of arrows into their midst as she darted through their ranks. Just a few feet away, Raven hurled a pair of demons into the air, slashing at their backs as they flailed helplessly overhead. His blade dripping with black blood, Raven bounded across the field cutting down his foes as the demons struggled to match his rapid pace.

"Stay together, and watch your backs!" Lento called back to his recruits as he rushed off to join Raven and Rena, smashing through the demons' ranks with powerful swings and silencing their growls with swift, deliberate strikes. Within the breadth of a minute, the overwhelming horde of monstrous claws and fangs was reduced to a ragged band of less than a dozen demons scurrying off into darkness. Just as Lento moved to sheath his sword, a thunderous crash tore through the courtyard as the northern wall crumbled away, the gleaming edge of a massive blade buried in the collapsing rubble. As the broken stone fell away, a colossal shadow climbed through the open wall, its body clad in dark steel and its head conspicuously absent from its shoulders.

Surveying their surroundings quickly, Rena turned aside to Lento, her eyes stern as she drew back her bow. "The path to the gate should be clear. We'll take care of this and meet you back at the camp."

"Right. Recruits, in formation!" Lento hurried back to his awestruck soldiers, gathering them together and leading them out toward the grand gates of Feita. Now facing the lumbering, headless knight, Rena and Raven turned to one another, their eyes locked together for a single instant before they charged toward the hulking mass of clattering steel. As Rena fired off a quick volley, the knight raised its heavy, smoldering shield and blocked every arrow. Sliding in beneath its shield, Raven thrust his blade in between the knight's heavy armor plates only to have his sword slide inside right up to the hilt, as if he were cutting little more than air.

"It's hollow?" Raven quickly pulled his sword away and stepped back just as the knight swung its massive blade out in a broad arc, missing Raven by a hair as he leapt to the side and rushed out of the knight's range.

"Are you alright?" Rena stood before Raven as he climbed back to his feet, shooting a powerful blast into the knight's chest that hit with a dull thud.

"Yeah, I'm fine. That thing's empty though, there's nothing inside holding it together." Raven dug his feet into the rubble as the knight recovered from Rena's assault, charging toward them with its shield raised and its sword ready to strike a killing blow. As Rena prepared to dodge the next attack, the gleam of the knight's shield caught her eye and she looked aside to Raven.

"Can you hold it still? For just a second?"

Shocked at first, Raven quickly visualized the creature's strike and nodded. "You know what you're doing?"

Rena grinned. "Probably not."

As the knight's heavy steps rattled the ground beneath their feet, Rena leapt back and Raven ran forward just as the knight thrust its blade toward the ground. Stepping to the side, Raven deflected the knight's blade into the stone at his feet, his own sword grinding against its edge and sending a shower of sparks into the night sky. With the knight struggling to pull his sword from the stone's embrace, Rena hopped onto the flat of the blade and ran along the knight's arm, leaping off of its shoulder and rolling her body in the air. As she passed over the dark hollow at the base of the creature's neck, she fired a single bolt of condensed air deep into the armor that exploded in a deafening blast, tearing the knight's armor apart piece by piece and scattering its remains across the field while Rena landed softly on the ground below.

With its armor tattered and lost, the burning eyes set into the knight's shield flickered and faded into the night. Surrounded now by little more than a pack of lifeless demons and the warm summer night, Raven and Rena breathed in deeply as they checked their injuries.

"Another cut on the right side?" Rena tilted her head to the side as she ran her finger across a shallow wound in the middle of her back. "I guess fighting in a place like this really lets you know about all your openings..."

Raven scoffed, his eyes agreeing as he pulled the matted, blood-soaked gauze away from a gash on his leg. "It's better than not knowing, but I'd rather find out in training..."

Rena smiled faintly as they headed off toward the gate and the promise of a restful evening. "Well, at least we've gone through another day without losing anyone... We'll have to-" Rena's voice fell away in an instant, her eyes narrowing as she glanced around and raised her bow. Judging by the caution in Raven's stance and his wary gaze, it seemed that he had noticed as well; a faint pattering followed by a low, steady creak, as though a hundred tiny cords were being stretched to the point of breaking. Then, as the torches danced in the dying breeze, a sharp whistling shot through the silence as a hundred archers loosed their bows all at once, their arrows flying through the air toward Raven and Rena.

Drawing back her bowstring, Rena released a strong gust of wind that knocked the arrows away, frantically searching for cover as the archer's readied their second round. A single gust could easily protect them from one wave of arrows, but Rena knew the demons would never make that mistake again; if even one of the archers fired just a second later than the others, its arrow would find a clear path to its target as the wind cleared and Rena readied another burst. At best, she could protect them out in the open for another few seconds, but without cover she was forced to forgo a counterattack that would leave them both open to the next assault. Scouring the field himself, Raven fixed his eyes on the fallen knight's shield, wondering if he and Rena would be able to reach it before the hail of arrows hit them.

The slow creaking resumed as the demons drew back their bows, each glancing to its neighbor and deciding on the timing of their strike. The moment they steadied their aim and prepared to fire, however, the sky flashed brightly and a blinding light filled the air as scorching flames filled the parapets. With their bows alight and their arrows little more than smoldering ash, the demons who were able to escape the tremendous blast retreated quickly into the depths of the inner courts. As the flames roared and swirled all around, Rena lowered her bow and sighed fondly while Raven sheathed his sword. From the heart of the howling flames, Aisha and Elsword stepped out into the courtyard side by side, grinning confidently as they greeted Raven and Rena.

"Wait..." Elsword blinked, looking around at the pile of bodies and rubble all around. "...are we late?"

Raven smiled faintly. "Heh... a bit."

"You came at a good time though." Rena smiled brightly at them as she and Raven headed toward the gate. "We were kind of in a rough spot."

Relieved to see everyone safe, Aisha sighed and then turned to Elsword and scowled. "This is your fault, you know. What were you doing taking so long to get ready tonight?"

"T-that doesn't matter!" Elsword glanced aside, avoiding Aisha's eyes as he searched for some sort of distraction. "Anyway, we gotta get out of here quick. The gate's closing in a few minutes."

Rena laughed softly at their exchange and smiled. "Alright then, onward to dinner."

* * *

With the gates closed and the bonfires blazing brightly, all was calm at the soldiers' camp outside of Feita's grand shrine. After receiving a hearty meal and a quick dressing for their wounds, Aisha, Elsword, Raven, and Rena headed over to the center of the camp where Allegro, the region's secretary and archivist, was busy hanging an array of maps and charts while Lento prepared to address the troops.

"Listen up!" Lento shouted across the crowd and the clamor of crass laughter and idle chatter faded in an instant. "It has been one month since the demons appeared and seized the Shrine of the El Lady. In that time, we have lost one-hundred and twelve men and women in the fight to reclaim the shrine... but we have killed over a thousand demons!" The crowd erupted in a raucous cheer, less joyful than incensed as the bitter memory of a comrade's death still hung fresh in the minds of nearly everyone present.

As Lento continued reassuring the troops and praising their continued determination and bravery, Raven sat and poured over the large maps that hung on the makeshift signboard behind him. Although they could easily boast about the number of demons they had killed, their actual progress in the shrine was minimal at best. In a month's time, they had managed to retake only the shrine's entrance hall, an area which amounted to little more than a tenth of the full complex. Moreover, new patrols flooded into the entrance hall each night, forcing the soldiers of Feita to clear the area again each day before venturing further into the shrine. In truth, even though he knew the soldiers needed to stay in high spirits, Raven was less than optimistic about their progress. With only the grand gates of the shrine to halt the demons' progress each night, they were locked in a constant struggle for the same blood-stained ground day after day.

While Raven tried to unravel the dense cluster of passageways and corridors on the map of the shrine, a round of jubilant applause and cheering shook him from his thoughts as Rena poked his shoulder and motioned for him to stand. It took him a moment to return his focus to Lento's address and once he did, Raven realized that he was now the subject of everyone's attention.

"Another round of applause for our honorary 'captains'!" Lento roused the crowd and they all cheered loudly as Elsword, Aisha, Raven, and Rena bowed slightly, a bit uncomfortable for all the attention. "I want to thank you again, both for saving countless lives and for inspiring us all. Even though none of you are citizens of Velder or Feita, you've worked tirelessly to defeat our enemies and reclaim the shrine! On behalf of us all, thank you."

Although Rena opened her mouth to accept his thanks, the roar of praise and applause drowned out her voice, leaving the four 'captains' to simply nod, bow slightly, and take their seats. After encouraging the troops, Lento's voice lowered and he moved on to discuss the tactical failures of past operations and their present plan to push in toward the Chapel entrance, though Raven was scarcely paying any attention to the details of his strategy. With his bones aching and his energy spent, it was all he could do just to stay awake and maintain his composure through the briefing, much less pay serious attention to its content. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Elsword nodding off and Aisha jabbing him in the side, smiling faintly as he watched the two bicker and blush. With the bonfires dying and midnight only moments away, Lento dismissed the troops and left the 'captains' to return to their quarters and tend to their wounds.

* * *

"I honestly didn't expect to be given a rank and badge when we volunteered here..." In a small recovery room at the edge of camp, Rena smiled slightly as she peeled the dried gauze from Raven's leg and applied a dark green paste that bubbled and stung as it cleansed the open wound.

"That's the way Velder is, even in its territories." Raven's brow wrinkled up as he felt the sharp pain of an antiseptic working its way across his wounds, pleasantly surprised that he had feeling in his remaining limbs after all he'd done in the past few days. "Exceptional soldiers are given a title to inspire the others, though it doesn't always mean much when you question real authority." His voice held a trace of caustic bitterness as he recalled his recent 'promotion'.

"Bad memories?" Rena wrapped a bandage around Raven's knee and fastened it in place with a long, sticky leaf. With the last of his injuries addressed, Rena turned away and raised the back of her shirt, revealing a pair of long cuts along the middle of her back.

"...Just a few." Raven scowled unconsciously as he applied an ointment to Rena's wounds, recalling the blood and toil of his days as the leader of the Crow mercenaries and how the Velder aristocracy had scoffed at his attempts to gain their recognition. Though his bitterness had faded recently, he was still wary of Velder's ruling class. For that reason, and to avoid the potential awkwardness of having a bounty on his head, Raven had insisted that he hailed from far to the north, denying his Velder citizenship from the moment he stepped into Feita.

"I don't think we-" Rena winced as Raven doused a shallow cut with alcohol and patted it dry. "-we have to worry though. Lento would probably listen to us if we had any real concerns about the way things were going..."

Despite her attempts to disguise it, Raven picked up on the hesitation in her voice. "Then why do you sound uncertain?" He slowly cut a long strip of gauze and layered it over her back, holding it in place with a long strip of cloth wrapped around her waist as she sighed and gave a weak smile.

"You heard, didn't you? They were all so excited to hear how many we'd killed so far... I know we don't have much choice, and the demons aren't likely to back down, but... when people start to celebrate and cheer after spilling so much blood, it makes me uneasy."

Raven paused, taking a moment to absorb her words and internalize them. While he was used to her endless, ecstatic calm in battle, her bright cheer and gentle warmth in peace, it was only since they arrived in Feita that he had begun to see a subtle, distant sadness spill over into her smile, something that he had only caught brief glimpses of in the prior months.

Finished binding the slashes across her back, Raven began cutting another patch of gauze for the scrapes across Rena's shoulder. "Bad memories?"

Rena gave a weak, heavy smile, her eyes narrow as she stared through the floor. "Just a few." Although she had always been vague about her past, especially her past as a warrior, the web of scars that lay across her back and shoulders told Raven more than enough; considering that Rena always carried a pack full of potent medicine that could mend even the deepest wounds without leaving so much as a scratch behind, he couldn't imagine what could have left such scars across her body. He was covered in old wounds of his own, of course, but Rena had always been better at hiding them and it was only in the past few weeks when they had taken to dressing one another's wounds that he had finally seen the record of battles carved into her skin. As he pressed a bandage across her shoulder, he felt a strange stirring in his chest, a familiar chill that he couldn't quite grasp.

"Thanks." Rena lowered her sleeve as Raven covered the last of her injuries, turning aside to smile cheerfully at him. "It's not easy reaching all the parts of your back when your arms are sore and bruised."

As Raven met her gaze, he felt a sudden surge of tension sweep through him, a wave of unexpected warmth washing over his face as he watched Rena's smile. Glancing away quickly, he tried to cough and clear his throat, realizing that his cheeks were flushed and his pulse unsteady. "It's nothing. Next time, I'll make sure neither of us has to walk away wounded."

Rena giggled lightly. "That's a nice thought, but you know that's not something we can really control..." She grinned as she packed away her supplies, "Ah, now that I think about it, Elsword says the same thing everyday. He must be a bad influence, making you that optimistic."

"Heh... impossible." Raven laughed lightly, but his thoughts were elsewhere, tangled and torn in a twisting, writhing knot. As Rena rose to leave, he felt an inexplicable sense of urgency. A powerful apprehension gripped his throat and strangled his voice, a shapeless fear stabbing through the pit of his stomach as the thought of being hurt, captured, or killed ran through his mind. Before he realized it, he was standing at Rena's side, his fists clenched and his heart racing.

"Wait, Rena..." His mouth hung open as she turned to face him, the strangling pain in his chest quickly overwhelming his restraint. For a moment, they stood staring at one another in silence, the air tense and taut as Raven slowly moved closer until Rena finally parted her lips.

"That's close enough, for now..." At the sound of her voice, Raven blinked, his head clearing as Rena smiled faintly. Stepping away, Rena gathered her things and headed for the door. "Sorry, but there are some wounds that I can't help you with." She stepped out into the hall and shut the door behind her, leaving Raven alone in the dim candlelight. Scowling at himself almost immediately, he turned and sat on the edge of a dust-covered cot, lowering his head and resting his elbows on his knees. As his anxiety turned to frustration, he whether he should run after Rena to apologize or sit and sort through the maze of his thoughts. Though she had rejected him kindly, he knew exactly what Rena had meant; she wasn't willing to be a substitute for Seris, and she wouldn't allow Raven to try and protect her as a way of making up for his inability to protect his late fiancée. He understood completely; no one should ever be expected to merely stand in for those long since lost, although up until now Raven was almost certain that he had buried his past completely. His sudden, inexplicable fear, the unbearable urge to save someone who wasn't even in danger, he knew these feelings well as they haunted almost all of his dreams for the past five years.

"Tch..." Raven scoffed, falling back onto the cot and staring at the ceiling. _Why am I still trapped in that day? I can let go of everything else, the blood and the spite and the endless rage, so why is she the only one I'm still holding on to?_ He shifted his left arm and raised it overhead, glowering as its steel skin gleamed in the firelight. _Will I still be holding onto her for the next hundred years? Even after that? _He closed his eyes and recalled his time on Altera, when Chief Adel had called him aside and led him back to his study under the auspices of showing him something of great importance. Though Raven was unsure of what to expect, he was caught completely off guard when the Chief pulled aside his shirt and revealed a large, metallic device embedded into his side, a piece of Nasod technology just the same as Raven's left arm.

"Young man, I called you here to show you this so that you might understand what lies ahead for you in your life..." The chief's voice rang out through Raven's memory, clear and crisp as the winter winder.

"What lies ahead?" Raven scoffed and scowled, at the time entirely disinterested in any discussion of the distant future. Although he had sworn to help retrieve Ruben's El and promised Rena not to rush off to his death, he was still deliberating on the actual value of his own life.

"Yes... I believe you know what this device is... or rather, where it came from. Like you, I was captured in my youth and made into one of the Nasod's experiments. While my artificial parts are not nearly as sophisticated as yours, I believe they may have a similar function..."

Raven glared at the Chief suspiciously. "What are you getting at?"

"Well..." Adel fastened his shirt back up and reached for his pipe. "You may have heard that I am the village elder, but I am also over a hundred and seven years old. I know it may seem a modest age to humans, but we Ponggo tend to live only thirty to forty years at our best, and even I am astounded everyday that I wake up and see the sunrise once again..." The Chief took a quick puff from his pipe before noticing Raven's impatience. "Ah, but, to the point... After many years, I have come to believe that it is the Nasod device in my side that has kept me alive this long... it filters out impurities, cleanses the blood, fights off infection, and even keeps me on balance. Your arm may very well work in the same way."

"You're saying that I'll live another hundred years like this?" Raven's voice was unsteady, somewhere between dread and disbelief.

"Well, possibly, or two or three hundred even. Humans live more than twice as long as Ponggos, so you may very well live more than twice as long as me. I tell you this because you still seem eager to sacrifice yourself in battle, and while that is certainly your choice, I believe you will be able to do more good for this world if you can fight to protect the weak and weary for the next hundred years... Don't you agree?"

At the time, Raven had been indecisive, but as he traveled across the plains of Altera, his resolve strengthened and he came to accept the possibility of a life that would last well beyond the next century. Even if he couldn't atone for his crimes, he could easily overshadow them with the work of a hundred years and to that end he was determined to move beyond his bloody past. Still, it seemed that there was a lingering fragment of time that remained buried deep in his chest, a potent blend of terror and regret that burned the image of Seris's corpse into his mind. More than that, in spite of his best efforts he was still unable to separate his deep trust and admiration of Rena from his desperate, unfulfilled desire to protect Seris from her fate. Regardless, he felt that he had to do something to close his festering wounds, even if he wasn't sure how to stop seeing Seris in Rena's smile.

Grimacing bitterly, he scoffed at his own stubbornness and indecision. Seris was dead, her heart long since stopped and her body firmly beneath the ground and no amount of anguish or regret or misplaced altruism could save her now. He knew this, he knew that she was definitely gone and that Rena was definitely not her and he knew that picking at his wounds would never help them heal. More than that, he knew that projecting his longing and regret onto Rena would only keep him from seeing her in the present, and that was hardly fair to one of his most trusted comrades. In spite of his understanding and his resolve, however, he soon found himself struggling to form even the simplest of thoughts. Exhausted in every sense, Raven laid back and drifted off to sleep as the candlelight gasped and faded away.

* * *

With the quarter moon scarcely peering over the horizon, Elsword waited atop a high, barren hill on the outskirts of the soldiers' encampment, staring up at the sky as he fidgeted anxiously. Still wearing the long jacket and light armor of a royal knight, he shifted uncomfortably with his hands held behind his back and his mouth wrinkled up awkwardly.

"What's taking her so long? She better not have ditched me here..." Elsword mumbled into the night, glancing back and forth until he finally saw Aisha walking along the narrow path below. When she finally arrived, she plopped herself down on the dry, crackling grass and sighed.

"Sorry I'm late, I got caught up talking to Rena."

"She's still awake?" Elsword stared quizzically. "I thought she wasn't on watch tonight."

Aisha shook her head slightly. "She's not. She seemed like she was annoyed by something though, but all she'd tell me was that she hated it when people expect someone else to deal with all their injuries..." She sighed and crossed her arms, "So, what'd you call me here for?"

"I-I just," Fidgeting and squirming in his seat, Elsword began to blush and struggled to grasp at fleeting words. "I found... this..."

"Spit it out!" Aisha scowled and fumed for just a moment, quickly lowered her head and softening her gaze. "...Sorry... I didn't mean..."

"I-it's fine..." Elsword paused for a moment, noticing the crease in Aisha's forehead and her clenched fists. "What's wrong? You look like you're about to break somebody's jaw."

"I almost did..." Aisha grimaced slightly and stared up at the sparkling sky. "It's the same as always though, I walked into the mess hall and suddenly half the room went quiet. This time they were saying that I stole the missing chickens from the farmhouse and drank their blood..." She huffed and pouted as Elsword scowled sympathetically.

"They're just being stupid. Why would they talk about you like that in the first place?" Lowering his voice, he shifted his eyes back and forth before mumbling to himself. "Besides, that's ridiculous. I'm the one who took those chickens and roasted them. How'd they get such a stupid idea anyway?"

"It's the same as it was in all the other cities we've been too..." Aisha leaned back on her arms and stared up at the swirling clouds overhead. "I use the same sort of magic the demons do, and most of these soldiers are really strict followers of the Lady of the El, so they think I'm just as bad as what we're fighting... Maybe I shouldn't have studied dark magic in the first place if people are going to keep acting like that around me." Her voice sank as the words left her lips, strained and frail as though she were on the verge of a costly defeat.

"Don't say that." Elsword's brow furrowed and he glared sharply at the campsite below. "We'd be dead if you didn't learn all that stuff, and there's nothing wrong with it. They're just being stupid and..." His mouth wrinkled up awkwardly as he tried to form his thoughts into a cohesive response. "Ah, damn it, I can't put it into words right, but... it's like they're trying to tell you your decisions are wrong because they're afraid of them, and that's stupid."

The warm breeze brushed against Aisha's face and she laughed, surprised to feel so reassured by such a clumsy statement. Sighing softly, she turned toward Elsword and smiled. "You know, you can't just call the other people stupid and expect to win an argument with them... But, still... Thanks."

"Ah, um, yeah..." Flustered once again, Elsword glanced aside and slowly pulled his hands from behind his back, revealing a small white statuette that shimmered in the starlight. "T-this is, um, anyway, I found it and I thought you might like it so, here..." He offered it up to Aisha, turning his head as far away as he could in a feeble attempt to hide his blushing cheeks.

Blinking and confused, Aisha carefully accepted the statue and turned it over in her hands. Even without careful inspection, it was clearly a delicately hand crafted idol of some sort, carved in the shape of a great bat diving through the air with an intricate spell inscribed at its base. As Aisha studied the inscription, she felt a strange tugging at the corner of her mind, as though a muffled voice was calling out to her from the other side of a rock wall.

"Where'd you find this? Is it from the shrine?"

Elsword shook his head. "I dunno. I found it there in perfect condition like that, but when I took it to Allegro he said it wasn't part of the shrine, and nobody else claimed it, so he said I could keep it. I-it's kind of pretty and I thought, maybe, you might like it... or something..." He blushed fiercely and stared off into the ground as Aisha felt her own cheeks redden.

"T-Thanks... I'm not sure what it is, but, it- it's nice..." They sat for a moment as the stars patiently awaited their next move. Although they'd spent several months together on the road since they left Altera, they still found themselves at a complete loss from time to time. Glancing aside and breathing in deeply, Aisha leaned over and hugged Elsword tightly. In less than a second, she let go and teleported down to the bottom of the hill, hurrying off to her room and leaving Elsword with only a faint warmth at his side. Still slightly feverish, he leaned forward and watched as Aisha retreated into her quarters.

"I guess... that went okay?" He suddenly recalled Aisha's smiling face and he shook his head out, ruffling his hair with his fingers and squinting to block out the memory. "Ah, whatever!" With his cheeks still flushed and his hair now a tangled mess, Elsword resigned for the evening and stumbled down toward his room.

* * *

In the morning, just as the sun rose over the hills in the east, nearly a thousand soldiers gathered at the gates of the shrine. At the front of the crowd, Lento explained the details of the day's operations, outlining their strategy for clearing the entrance hall and pushing on into the inner gates of the chapel all before nightfall. Waiting at the gates alongside him, Rena stood alone, waiting for the other 'captains' to join her and searching the crowd for their faces. Soon, a familiar shadow fell at her side and Raven stepped up to the gates of the shrine, taking his place beside Lento and Rena.

"Feeling any better?" Rena glanced sidelong at him while Lento finished briefing the troops on the day's operations.

"Yeah." He gave a slight, wry smile. "A bit disgraceful, but better."

As Rena stifled a quiet laugh, Lento concluded his speech and gave the gatekeepers his signal just as Aisha and Elsword made their way through the crowd. With everyone in attendance, the gates began to creak and groan, swinging open and prepared to accept the thousand lives that stood before them. As soon as the path into the shrine was open, every heart fell into immediate despair.

Violent crashes thundered across the courtyards and the earth quaked with fear as a gigantic, monstrous golem marched toward the gates, its head held higher than the tallest trees in the forest and its arms as thick as the shrine's outer wall. Following in its deafening footsteps, three dozen smaller golems charged toward the gate, hurling boulders at the outer wall as they ran.

"Close the gate!" Lento shouted and drew his sword, unsure of whether or not their blades would cut through a mass of towering stone. As the three gatekeepers struggled to close the shrine, a huge boulder crashed into the outer wall and knocked them over the edge and toward the ground below. Leaping aside, Rena and Raven caught the gatekeepers and helped them to their feet while Lento turned back to his troops and ordered an immediate retreat.

"Pull back to the hills! Bring the catapults around and prepare to fire!" He pointed his sword to the south and his soldiers obeyed, bolting to the hills as the shadow of the colossal golem fell upon them. As another round of rock and stone flew through the air, Aisha and Elsword rushed through the gate and cast a wide barrier across the outer wall. Even with the two of them shielding the gate together, their broad, thing barricade was already beginning to crack and splinter as a relentless hail of boulders rained down upon them.

Wincing as he felt his strength fading, Elsword clenched his jaw and stared out at the tireless brigade charging toward them. "Damn it, how the hell're we supposed to fight that thing? It's a giant rock!"

"It'd be a lot easier..." Aisha panted, pouring all her energy into the crumbling barrier, "If it weren't a hundred feet tall..."

"It'll be tough, but I'm sure we can cut it." Raven drew his sword and prepared to charge, "...This might take a while though."

"You know, I'm starting to look back on the times when we fought those endless swarms of nasod..." Rena hopped back, firing a stream of arrows into the air and knocking away the incoming boulders, though doing little more than scratching the golems themselves, "...and I'm starting to wish this was that easy."

As the golems finally reached the gate, Elsword and Aisha were both breathing heavily and nearly exhausted, their hands trembling as they struggled to hold up the tattered barrier. More than a hundred yards behind them, the soldiers had scarcely pulled the catapults into position and many were still scrambling to drag their ammunition to the top of the hill.

"Tch..." Lento scoffed and gripped his sword tightly. "Is this it, already?"

Now standing only a hundred feet from the gate, the giant golem reached down, scooped up a huge chunk of the shrine wall, and raised it high overhead, aiming far above Elsword and Aisha's barrier and straight for the catapults stationed on the hilltops. Then, just before the giant could attack, a blinding light burst from the clouds overhead and a calm, commanding voice filled the air.

"Surrender immediately. If you do not surrender you will be subject to immediate retaliation."

"Wait, is that-" Rena looked to the sky anxiously as she searched for the source of that unmistakable sound. As the clouds cleared, a smooth, sleek airship descending and hovered over the gate as Eve's voice echoed through the shrine once more.

"You have three seconds to comply."

Staring transfixed, everyone on the ground watched as the massive golem turned its gaze to the airship and launched a mass of rubble and stone toward it. Almost instantly, a bright flash leapt from the ship's bow, spinning through the air and slicing through the rubble with ease. As the golems ceased their charge and turned to the sky, the ship's cargo bay opened wide, revealing a small figure clad in armor of ivory and the shimmering blue light of El. As the golems gathered up another round of stones to throw into the air, Eve appeared on the ship's deck and glared at the field below with a harsh disapproval. "Your time is up."

As soon as she spoke, the armored figure leapt from the side of the ship, firing his massive cannon behind him and barreling into the monstrous giant. At the moment of impact, a violent shock wave ripped through the air, bending the trees and shattering the last of Aisha and Elsword's barrier. As the dust settled and the air cleared, everyone was shocked to see the shattered, broken shell of the giant golem crumbling to the ground. In the wake of this destruction, the lone knight that fell from the sky hefted his cannon over his shoulder, glanced across the field at the remaining golems, and dug his heels into the ground.

"Alright." He spun his cannon and slammed it into the ground. "Who's next?"


	37. Citadel

Citadel

* * *

Sharp streams of sunlight poured over the tattered gate, flooding the land that had once been bathed in the shadow of a gigantic golem. As soon as the towering colossus fell away, broken by a single massive strike, Aisha and Elsword stumbled up to their feet and drew their weapons.

"Ready?" Aisha kept her eyes forward, downing a full skin of water and wiping the sweat from her brow. At her side, Elsword followed suit, panting heavily as he kindled a small flame in his palms and dug his feet into the ground. Rolling his shoulder and swinging his sword down to his side, he nodded.

"Yeah. Let's go."

Without a moment's pause, they rushed into the ruined courtyard ahead and began blasting the marching golems with crackling fire and bursts of dark magic. Close behind them, Raven and Rena surveyed the field ahead and charged into the fray.

"It's a bit-" As she ran, Rena raised an arm over her head as small explosions shook the air and bits of rock and debris flew into the sky. "It's a bit hectic over there. Shall we head around and hit them from behind?" Rena grinned and Raven nodded, smiling slightly as they ducked beneath a golem's swinging arms and headed straight for the rock hurlers stationed on the high wall of the courtyard.

Still at the gates shouting commands to his lieutenants, Lento worked frantically to move his soldiers into position and prepare for a counterattack. In the chaos that followed, the commanders voice was only barely audible over the cadence of two thousand boots rushing toward the shrine's weathered gate.

"Largo, Arietta, take the first and third divisions along the western wall and keep their reinforcements off our flank! Dolce, Fermata, move in behind the captains and prepare to advance along with them! Keep your guard up and push forward to the Chapel!"

As his soldiers acknowledged their orders and charged into the courtyard and overwhelmed the remaining golems, the grand gates of the Chapel of the Lady opened in the distance and a great, growling morass of heavily armored demons marched out to face the soldiers of Feita. Catching sight of the advancing horde, Lento's eyes narrowed and he drew his sword. Just before he headed through the gates and into the calamity beyond, however, the clamor of galloping hooves rose about the chaotic sounds of battle and drew his attention to the west and left a confident grin upon his face. Within seconds, two dozen riders had arrived at the shrine's gates and their leader circled around to Lento's side.

"Are we late?" The leader of the cavalry hopped to the ground, his crimson cloak flowing in the summer breeze. As he approached, Lento smiled and sheathed his sword, extending his hand out expectantly.

"Late? I was expecting you to ride in when we were ten paces from the top of the spire and stick around for the victory parade. You're about three weeks early."

The cavalry commander shook Lento's hand and then pulled him in for a firm embrace, laughing heartily all the while. "Ha! Three weeks? If that's your estimate then we'll not see the end of this for half a year." He stepped back and smiled warmly. "It's good to see you again, Lento."

"Heh..." Lento smiled, "Good to see you as well, Penensio. Now let's get down there before we run out of demons to kill."

* * *

Racing the wind along the parapets, Rena plowed through the enemy archers, knocking them to the ground and breaking their bows with a quick flurry of kicks. As she ran and leapt along the walls, the demons below her stabbed at her feet with their spears and she hopped back gracefully, spinning as she fired off powerful burst of air that swept the remaining archers over the wall and into a pile of smoldering rubble. As she continued to pick off the demons that locked swords with the soldiers of Feita below, a brilliant flash erupted in the middle of the field and a half dozen demons flew up into the air.

At the center of a bustling crowd, Eve threw a shining sphere of lightning out toward a pair of charging demons, exploding and hurling them high into the air. Behind her, Oberon darted across the field, dancing around the demons' blades and crippling those that targeted his queen. Seeing Eve marching calmly through the savage mob, Rena smiled brightly and waved to her.

"Eve!" She stepped aside and ducked as an archer pulled a knife and lunged toward her, twisting her bow and catching the demon's neck as it charged past her. With a quick spin, she tossed the creature over the wall and onto its comrades below. "It's been a while! How have you been?"

Eve dashed forward past an enemy formation, directed Moby and Remy down to their feet and knocking them off balance as Oberon rushed in to finish them off as they lay helpless on the ground. "I have been well." She turned and leapt back, dodging an axe blade and firing off a pair of sharp metal stingers in response. "We will have to speak more when we are not so busy." Raising her hand, Eve caught the shaft of a spear as it swung down toward her, gripping it tightly and sending a burst of electricity along its length. As the spear-wielding demon collapsed in a heap on the ancient stone of the courtyard floor, another rushed to take its place only to be snatched off its feet in mid stride and flung across the field onto a soldier's waiting blade. Cutting through every gap in the enemy's defense, Raven forced his way through their ranks, disarming every demon he faced and knocking them aside as Feita's knights followed close behind to finish them off. As he passed Eve on the field, she glanced aside at his left arm.

"Has your arm been working as intended? It has not caused you trouble, has it?"

"No," Raven punched through a demon's spear, shattering its tip and knocking its owner unconscious. "It's working fine. More importantly, who'd you bring with you?" He looked toward the chapel as a deep, deafening rumble shook the ground and sent a pack of demons flying into the air. At the center of the disturbance, a small, armored figure swung a giant cannon into the ground with tremendous force, staggering the demons all around and setting them off balance.

Eve stepped forward and delivered a powerful smack to a heavy shield-bearing demon, sending it spinning into the nearby wall. "His name is Chung. I will introduce you after we are finished here, but for now you can trust him to protect the soldiers here without fail."

Deep within the sea of gnashing fangs, Chung slammed his Destroyer into the advancing enemy line and swept the front row of demons over the edge of a narrow path and into the unfathomable abyss of the chapel's moat. As the panicked shrieks of dying beasts climbed the moat's mile high walls, Chung smashed his way through the snarling horde and opened a narrow escape route for the trapped soldiers of the third battalion. As the wounded and weary soldiers fell back, their attackers gave relentless pursuit, rattling their blades and filling the sky with a cloud of jet black bolts. Raising his cannon high and holding his ground, Chung shielded the soldiers and held off the enemy's advance, pushing back and crowding the demons into a corner before slamming the barrel of his Destroyer into the ground and firing off three explosive rounds. As the demons scattered in the wind and hurried to regroup, Chung knelt down and loaded up five silver cased shells into his cannon. When a savage war cry rang out and signaled the demons' charge, he pulled the trigger. Within seconds an ear splitting whistle ripped through the air and a bone rattling explosion shook the ground as artillery fire fell across the narrow path, launching the mass of gleaming eyes and bloody fangs off the ground and into the gaping ravine below.

Glancing aside at the distant flash and fire of Chung's artillery, Aisha paused and surveyed the destruction in the distance. Their allies were holding the demons off just a hundred yards from the single bridge that crossed the ravine and led to the chapel, but with a near constant stream of fresh, ravenous demons pouring out from the chapel itself, there was no doubt that the soldiers of Feita would soon be overrun. As the shadow of a spear crossed her face, Aisha slid backward and left a crackling orb of dark energy in her place, exploding and sending her attacker flying back into a crumbling wall. As the breeze scattered her hair across her cheeks, the a small, swift assassin rushed from the shadows and leapt toward Aisha, its blade aimed at the base of her neck. Gritting her teeth and swinging her staff out with all her strength, she caught the demon mid-leap and smashed the side of its jaw, hurling it through the air as it spun and flailed wildly. Stepping back, Aisha glanced aside and shouted over the clamor of battle.

"Elsword!"

Catching himself on a mangled fence, Elsword turned quickly and jumped onto the nearest demon's face, kicking off of its furled snout and smashing the airborne assassin into the chapel walls. As he landed, he drove his sword into the ground and the cobblestone path erupted in flame and ash, coating his blade in a veil of fire and setting the surrounding demons ablaze. Rushing through the crowd, he cut through his opponents with practiced ease, each strike flowing into the next as his flames blinded and stunned his attackers. Only yards away from where Aisha stood fending off a group of heavily armored swordsmen, Elsword slammed into a solid wall of steel as a line of shield-bearing demons moved in around him. Scowling indignantly, he latched his sword to his back and pounded his fists together, kindling an intense, pulsing flame in each hand. As the demons approached, Elsword lunged forward and punched the flat of their shields. After a dull, impotent thud, a scolding wave of fire blasted the air behind each shield, sending the demons into disarray and opening the path ahead.

Just as Elsword arrived at Aisha's side, a chorus of blood chilling shrieks spilled out across the sky. As steel and stone clashed below, the wings of a hundred hideous gargoyles darkened the sky and surged toward the soldiers of Feita like a crushing wave of teeth and claws. With scarce seconds before the gargoyles reached the ground, Aisha took a deep breath and teleported onto the nearest wall.

"Wait, Aisha, what're you doing?" Elsword chased after her, keeping his eyes on the sky beyond. Chanting beneath her breath, Aisha turned back to Elsword as her fingertips began to shine.

"Get ready to catch me!"

Without a moment's pause, she ran along the wall and teleported high into the air, snapping her fingers as she fell and sending a dozen streams of molten plasma cutting through the cloud of beating wings and blackened eyes and felling all but a few of the shrieking gargoyles. With her energy spent, her eyelids fluttered and she began falling to the ground, limp and light as a sheet of silk. Dashing across the courtyard, Elsword snatched her from the air as she fell and held her in his arms while she caught her breath and regained her senses.

"Hey, you okay?" He looked down at her, worry in his eyes and on his face as Aisha stared aimlessly into the distance. After a moment of disorientation and dizziness, Aisha blinked and saw Elsword's face only inches from her own. Rolling out of his arms in a panic, she blushed fiercely and turned away as she straightened out her jacket.

"T-thanks, I'm fine..."

Stunned by her reaction, Elsword could only stare for a moment before blushing himself. "G-good. Gotcha. You ready to head back to the front?"

Aisha nodded, breathing slowly and steadying her voice. "Yeah. It looks like their reinforcements just keep pouring through those doors. We've got to get them closed somehow or-" She took a moment to study the field before them, her eyes drawn to the broad, sturdy bridge that connected the courtyard to the chapel. As soon as she saw the droves of demons pouring across the bridge, she bolted off toward the central corridor and fired a bright signal fire into the sky as she ran.

"Come on, we've got to get to Lento!"

"Wait, what're you-" Elsword stopped and, as soon as he realized what Aisha was planning, a broad grin spread across his face. "Heh... alright, let's do it."

* * *

With his troops weary and injuries mounting, Lento was quickly losing ground as more of his soldiers were forced to withdraw from the front lines. Soon, only Penensio and a half dozen men and women were still standing at his side. With fatigue settling into his bones, Lento charged the enemy commander, kicking away its sword and slicing through its nose. As the demon reeled back and began frothing at the mouth, Lento pulled his sword in close to his side as the demon charged, its fangs bare and bloody as it bounded toward him. Ducking down and thrusting his blade out, Lento simply held his ground as the monster impaled itself upon his blade and coughed up its putrid blood. With the next wave of demons only a hundred yards off, Lento spotted a signal fire hovering high overhead and he called Penensio over to his side.

"Can you hold the line here? There's a problem up ahead."

"Of course." Penensio nodded firmly. "Watch your back. I don't want to have to pull you out of the fire again."

Lento scoffed lightly and smiled. "And I don't want to have to take half a battalion aside just to cut out an escape route for you. That's been twice now, hasn't it?"

"Really?" Penensio smiled jovially. "It's hard to remember after all these years. Stay safe."

"Right." Lento hurried off as the Aisha, Elsword, Raven, Rena, Eve, and Chung gathered together beneath the shining signal in the midst of the courtyard. With the advancing line of demons now stopping to take stock of the group before them, Aisha gripped her wand and turned aside to Lento.

"We need to destroy the bridge. How far will that set us back?"

Lento blinked. "Destroy it?" He thought to protest but, seeing the swelling tide of fangs and teeth gathering at the other end of the courtyard, he realized they had little opportunity. Before he could answer, Eve stepped forward and studied the bridge and its structure.

"That will be the best course of action. It is the only path from the chapel to the courtyard and destroying it will allow us to split the enemy force."

"That's true, but..." Rena laid a finger across her cheek. "How are we going to get close enough to take down the bridge with all those demons crowded around us?" She glanced over the seemingly endless sea before her, her bow drawn as they faced down the cautious horde of clattering claws. Without hesitation, Chung hefted his Destroyer onto his shoulders and nodded swiftly.

"Leave that to us. We can do it, right Miss Eve?"

"Yes." Eve nodded. "I finished preparations for such a scenario just before we left. Please leave this to us and concentrate on eliminating the enemies that have already crossed the bridge."

"Alright." Raven slid his left foot forward and drew back his blade. "Then we'll open a path for you. Rena?"

"Okay~" Rena smiled as she took aim, glancing aside to Lento as everyone prepared to rush forward. "What do you say, commander?"

Lento's eyes narrowed as he stared out across the courtyard, its dusty stone now swallowed up by the writhing shadows of the demonic swarm. With a swift, decisive stroke, he lifted his sword to eye level pointed it toward the chapel bridge. "Very well. Let's finish this."

At his command, Rena concentrated all her strength into a single arrow that shimmered and swirled until finally bursting into a roaring flame. Digging her heels into the ground, she fired her bow and a broad, sweeping flame tore through the crowd ahead and cleared a narrow path all the way to the foot of the bridge. As Eve and Chung rushed across the courtyard through the army of spears and fangs, Raven and Oberon dashed alongside them, fending off a barrage of blades and arrows as they kept the path clear and pushed the demons back. With Aisha, Elsword, and Rena circling around to the outer wall and Lento pulling back to prepare his troops for a valiant charge, the stage was finally set for a triumphant finale.

At the foot of the bridge, Chung stood facing the burning eyes and gaping jaws of the demons' elite guard. Without pausing or breaking step, he slammed his cannon into the ground and charged ahead as the demons poured in around him. Spears and swords fell across his back and arms only to slide harmlessly off of his Freuturnier as he forged his way to the bridge's crest. Jumping slightly, he drove his Destroyer into the ground and pulled the trigger. Thunder split the ground and demons scattered and fell to their knees as the bridge shook at its very core, the ground cracked and glowing brightly from the radiant blast. Leaping back, Chung used his final round to rocket himself up to the outer wall while the smoke and dust settled over the field.

As the air cleared and the demons stumbled up to their feet, the broad, crumbling bridge still stood in defiance of Chung's assault. Enraged and emboldened, another wave of demons poured out of the chapel doors and crashed down upon the captains as they made their stand at the mouth of the courtyard. With no end to the demon's onslaught in sight, Eve kicked off of the outer wall and rose high into the air, opening her console and rapidly entering a series of commands. In an instant, Moby and Remy flew out over the bridge and began tracing a faintly glowing circle in the sky. As they flew faster and faster, the air filled with an eerie, unsettling crackle and every eye fixed its gaze on the bright, blinding circle of light hovering overhead. Calmly drawing her hands away from her keyboard, Eve slid a pair of dark glasses over her eyes as lightning arced off of the glowing circle and spread through the air.

"Final safety lock disengaged. Everyone, please take cover." As soon as she pressed her hand against her console, the sky split open and King Nasod's severed fist came crashing down through the bridge and shattering it into a storm of dust and rubble as an overwhelming shock wave burst through the air. Bracing themselves against the blast, Aisha and Elsword joined hands and chanted into the howling wind and thrusting their weapons into the ground. A curtain of flames, savage and wild, erupted across the field and engulfed the demon horde, hissing and cackling fiercely as it drove a wedge between the beasts fighting in the courtyard and those who had just passed over the bridge. Scattered, wounded, and now outmaneuvered, the demonic swarm fell quickly as the soldiers of Feita descended upon them.

On the other side of the fire, standing at the base of the shattered bridge, Eve's feet delicately graced the ground as Chung and Oberon dispatched the last of the demons on the near side of the ravine. Snarling and snapping from across the moat, the remnants of the horde slowly retreated into the chapel just as the wall of fire began to fade away. With the day won and the sounds of battle drifting away on the wind, Lento hurried over to the broken bridge and stared out across the empty void with a vague sense of shock and horror in his eyes. Before today, that bridge had stood for over a thousand years, a testament to the strength of stone and the precision of its engineering. While Lento had expected it to be broken, he was stunned to see it entirely annihilated and his words failed him. After catching his breath, he turned to the captains and nodded solemnly.

"...Good work."

"What are the casualties?" Rena stepped forward and glanced back into the courtyard at the mass of weary and wounded soldiers behind them. Sheathing his sword, Lento shook his head.

"I can't how many injured, probably in the hundreds. Fortunately, as far as I know, only thirteen dead. If we're lucky, that will be all we-"

A subtle, hissing whisper sapped all sound from the air, growing into a grating, anguished groan as a heavy, dark cloud poured out of the chapel doors. As everyone turned and glanced across the moat, a pair of giant, ghastly hands shot out into the sunlight and grabbed the sides of the massive doors, slamming them shut in an instant and sealing the chapel off from the outside world. With a sharp gasp, the tortured groans faded away, leaving everyone present with a persistent sense of unease. Although they had finally pushed their enemies back and gained a permanent foothold within the shrine, the ominous haze that lingered in the air stifled their cries of victory. With less than eight hours before sunset and more than a week's worth of work left to be done, Lento rounded up his lieutenants and began the arduous task of moving their camp within the gates of the shrine, forcing himself to ignore the foreboding presence that waited just beyond the chapel gates.

* * *

"Careful with that! We've broken three already!" Allegro shouted across the courtyard as a pair of soldiers jerked a bundle of tent poles across the ground and through the center of the new forward camp. As the setting sun splashed across the grand spire at the center of the shrine, the soldiers of Feita marched wearily between the edge of the courtyard and their old camp outside the gates while Allegro darted about in a frantic attempt to coordinate the construction of their new campsite. Even without any demons to slow their progress, trudging through the winding corridors and collapsing chambers of the shrine entrance was only wearing down the already exhausted soldiers. Night would fall within the hour and more than half of Feita's knights had yet to pitch their own tents let alone bring in all the supplies needed for their continuing siege. In fact, the field hospital was one of the few structures standing in the courtyard and it was bursting at its seams.

At the edge of the campsite in one of the few intact chambers of the entry hall, Eve quietly finished off a cup of tea and handed it over to Oberon as Lento sat across from them, his eyes weary and lost in thought.

"In short..." Eve met Lento's eyes, her voice low and even. "The sovereign powers of Altera wish to provide you with assistance in reclaiming your lost territory. In return, I request your support in our future diplomatic relations with the kingdom of Velder. Will you be willing to help us?"

"..." Lento crossed his arms and lowered his head, still surprised by the existence of a Nasod empire and entirely unsure of whether or not he should agree to Eve's conditions. After another moment of deliberation, he nodded to himself and raised his eyes. "Alright, I don't know how much I'd be able to do for you once we retake the shrine, but we'd grateful for your help."

Eve rose from her seat and bowed graciously. "Then we shall give you our full assistance until this crisis is resolved. I shall make preparations to repair the path to the chapel at once. Please excuse me." With another slight bow, Eve and Oberon headed out into the hallway through the maze of hallowed rubble and smoldering ash.

Though the smoke and haze of battle had obscured much of the shrine's features, Eve was struck by the sheer volume of care and craftsmanship embedded in every chipped and shattered stone. Artisans had inscribed each brick with their personal seal, a prayer to the lady of the El, and a tiny piece of a grand mural that, when viewed from afar, told the story of the Last Day and the wars that followed. Dim torchlight danced across the cobbled floors and wrapped around the crumbling remains of now headless statues, spilling through the shadows and pooling in the small hollows where pilgrims once offered their prayers. It was an atmosphere entirely unknown to Eve, though somehow strangely intriguing. From the ornate columns that supported every doorway to the winding web of wrought iron vines that climbed the tremendous spire in the midst of the shrine, she felt a faint sense of familiarity; it took only another moment for her to realize that this shrine must be as important to the humans as Altera's Core is to the Nasod. Standing in the midst of the now ruined corridor, Eve stared at the ragged edges of human history and poured over the ancient engravings that had already lived through two centuries by the time she was born. As she traced the lines of coarse black mortar, a faint, weathered name carved into the rock caught her attention and stirred up an unexpected, nostalgic fondness.

_Empress... Astarte?_

"Oh, there you are." Rena's voice echoed through the air, interrupting Eve's examination of the ancient stone. As Eve turned toward the end of the hall, Raven and Rena stepped out of the haze of dust and shadows and into the dim sunlight that poured through the broken ceiling. "How did negotiations go?"

Standing at Eve's side, Oberon gave an enthusiastic thumbs up as Eve answered quietly. "The commander has agreed to assist us in our future diplomatic relations with the kingdom of Velder. It is fortunate that he did not decline, as I was not prepared to withdraw our support if he did..."

"Don't worry." Raven shifted in the shadows as a few rocks rained down from the ceiling above him. "Lento is a good man, he'll keep his word... not that I expect it'll help much against the nobles in Velder."

"Well, that aside..." Rena smiled softly in an attempt to diffuse the bitterness of Raven's words. "You said you'd introduce us to someone once everything calmed down."

Eve nodded. "Yes. Oberon, where is Chung?" As she turned aside, Oberon looked away and scratched his head. Sighing, Eve turned and headed back toward the campsite. "Very well. Let us return to camp and look for him there."

Rena hummed lightly. "Ah, so he's not one of your assistants like Oberon?"

"No," Eve rounded the corner and waited for the others to catch up before continuing. "Chung is the first crown prince of Hamel. I cannot be sure if it is related or not, but he was thrown out to sea after battling demons in his homeland several months ago. Based on what little information I have been able to gather, that nation is now largely occupied by the invading army."

The announcement that the prince of a far away kingdom was in their midst was almost entirely lost as Rena and Raven drew the conclusion which Eve had likely arrived at weeks ago. Even without hearing any further details, the timing of the demon invasion of Hamel and the sudden appearance of demons in Feita could scarcely be coincidence, especially when considering that the creatures they knew as 'demons' only existed as garish nightmares in bedtime stories before they stepped out into this world and took up arms against it.

"...Do you think they're coordinated? The attack on Hamel and the invasion of the shrine, I mean." Rena stared wistfully through the debris as she imagined the scene of devastation across the sea and wondered just how many people must have died defending their kingdom if the crown prince was even forced to fight on the front lines. "This is the first I've heard of it, but it sounds like they've landed right next to the two largest kingdoms on each continent. If the shrine hadn't been sealed when the demons attacked, then Velder might be under siege right now..."

"Yes, that would likely be the case." Eve paused as she spoke, staring at the stray piles of spears and shields scattered across the ground. "...There is something else I have been curious about. I am unfamiliar with modern military practices, but how have you disposed of all of the corpses so quickly?"

"We haven't." Raven's eyes darkened and he approached one of the piles, kicking a shield without revealing even the slightest trace that a demon had ever held it in its claws. "For all we know, we haven't even killed more than a few dozen for sure. When they fall unconscious, or maybe just when they get too close to death, they fade away and disappear."

Eve met his eyes, inquisitive yet skeptical. "Is this some form of magic?"

"We're not really sure..." Rena knelt down and brushed the rubble away from a demon's spear, pinching the shaft between her fingers and testing its weight. "Aisha and I have been talking with Feita's mages about it, but if it's a spell then there's no sign of anyone casting it. It's possible that this is natural for them and their bodies just disappear when they die, though we did have another theory; if they really are from another world like most people believe, then maybe they're returning there whenever they lose consciousness. If that's the case, then we might be fighting the same demons we defeated today over and over again..."

"...I see..." Her eyes drifting across the corridor, Eve let her thoughts consume her for a moment as the storm of possibilities surrounding the current crisis collided with the graven images and eternal names all around her, washing through her memory and leaving only a single, significant event on the shore. It had been shouting at her from the moment she arrived, carved even into the very structure of the shrine itself and emblazoned upon every stone in every hallway in one way or another, a grand chorus announcing the answer to all of her lingering questions so loudly that she was only now able to see the thread that bound everything together. On every brick, in every enclave, and on every offering plate lay some part of the record of the single most catastrophic moment in the history of the world, the moment that Eve knew as The Last Day. With the answer firmly in hand, her mind cleared and she started back down the hall.

"Please hurry. We must find Chung quickly, and then I need you to take me to the shrine's chief historian."


	38. Provenance

Provenance

* * *

"Nnn..." Elsword groaned as he pulled his head off of a narrow burlap cot, sitting up lazily and letting his head droop forward as he rubbed his eyes. "Is it tomorrow already...?"

"No." On the neighboring cot, Aisha rolled over on her side to face him, her hair disheveled and her eyes red and weary. "It's not even midnight yet."

"Ugh... damn." Elsword rubbed his neck and reached around blindly for the pitcher of water at his bedside. "I still feel like I'm gonna puke."

"Do it on the other side then." Aisha grumbled as she pushed herself up, squinting and scowling as she felt her bones creak and pop back into place. As soon as she was sitting upright, her stomach growled ferociously and she slid a hand over her waist. "...nngh, I want food. Elsword, get us some food."

Glowering, Elsword tried to move his legs and found them both still painfully sore. Looking around, he spotted a small tray of hardtack and dried fruit beside the water on the table nearby and grabbed it clumsily. "Here."

Startled by the sudden appearance of food, Aisha blinked and slowly picked off half the food on the plate. "Oh, thanks."

As Aisha bit into her meager rations, Elsword piled the remainder of the food onto a plate at his side and began gnawing on a dry square of hardtack. For a few minutes, neither of them had the energy to do much more than chew their food and they sat in silence, their eyes narrow as they recovered from the day's fighting. Once they finished with their food, their mood and posture improved dramatically. Stretching her arms out overhead, Aisha sighed sharply and let her hands fall to her side. As Elsword twisted his spine and stretched his arms, she noticed a light bloodstain on his back and she slowly rose to her feet.

"Wait, don't move. You tore your bandage off just now."

"Huh?" Elsword reached around to his back, slapping his hands around aimlessly as he searched for the errant bandage. "Where? I didn't feel anything."

"Hold-" Aisha bent over and pressed her hand into his shoulder to keep him steady. "Hold still a second, let me fix it."

"Wait, I can get it-" Elsword turned away, fixing his eyes on the pitcher of water on the far side of the room as Aisha pulled up his shirt and replaced the bandage on his back. Blushing slightly, he began to pout, indignant. "...You gotta be so close when you do that?"

Aisha's mouth wrinkled up awkwardly as she pressed the bandage into place. "Stop fidgeting, you just messed up another one..." She pulled away quietly and grabbed a strip of gauze from the cabinet nearby as Elsword stared into the corner, trying not to move. After waiting for more than a few moments, he glanced back over toward Aisha and froze; back of her jacket had been sliced roughly from shoulder to shoulder, falling open just enough to give Elsword a glimpse at the long, dark red streak soaking through the bandage on her back. As he stared, a grim chill crept across his chest. When Aisha turned and headed back toward him, he finally noticed the bruises on her arms and the slender, shallow cut across the side of her neck. The color quickly drained from his face and a heavy, suffocating fear seized him.

"Turn around, I can't fix your back like that-" Aisha sat on the cot beside him, stopping when she saw the quiet terror in his eyes. "Are you okay? What's wrong?"

Before she could move, Elsword stretched his arms out beyond her and wrapped her tightly against himself, his eyes shut tightly as he buried his face in her shoulder. Aisha blushed wildly, her hands raised and about to push him away when she felt his hands trembling against her back. As she felt his heart pounding against her chest, her hands slid around his shoulders and held him close.

This wasn't the first time Elsword had seen her injured, it wasn't the first time they had both collapsed after a fight only to wake covered in bruises and bandages, and this wasn't even the first time this week that the two of them had been forced right up to the edge of life and death. By all accounts, today's fighting was fairly banal and tepid compared to the early skirmishes when the demons in the courtyard still numbered in the thousands, but against all reason Elsword's anxiety persisted. He held onto Aisha as tightly as he could, desperate to protect her from wounds that had already been dressed. He knew it was foolish, clinging to her even though there was nothing he could do just by holding onto her like this and panicking over a few cuts and scrapes that would heal within a few days' time, but somehow he couldn't calm down. They had been fighting and bleeding and covered in ash and soot for weeks now, and it was only now that Elsword felt truly afraid. He chided himself as his breathing slowed; he had always known that they could be hurt, that they could die, and that each moment they spent on the field could be their last moment alive, but somehow he felt the urgent need to reach out and hold Aisha so that she wouldn't slip away. The delirium of exhaustion quickly began to take hold of him, and soon he was leaning against Aisha with all his weight.

"H-Hey, Elsword, what-"

"Um, excuse me..." A soft, crisp voice spilled in from the doorway of the small recovery tent and both Aisha and Elsword jumped away from one another in an instant. Out of his armor and completely unarmed, Chung slowly poked his head inside and glanced around the room before resting his eyes and Aisha and Elsword. "I'm sorry, I'm looking for miss Eve... Do you her, or do you know where she might be?"

"Eve?" Aisha stared blankly, first unsure of where Eve might have gotten to since the end of the battle and then wondering whether or not she was the Eve this small boy was really looking for. While she negotiated with her memory, Elsword chugged a glass of icy water and kept his face turned toward the wall, concealing the red in his cheeks. "I... I'm not sure." She blinked, pausing as she took stock of the stranger standing in the doorway. "Are you lost?"

"No, well, not exactly." Chung stepped into the room and glanced around the room again. "I came here with miss Eve, and I don't really know anyone else here... She told me that she'd introduce me to her friends after the fighting was over, but we got separated and I haven't seen her since then."

"Nn..." Elsword crossed his arms and finally faced forward as he pushed himself up to his feet. "Alright, come on. I'll help you find her." He grumbled as he took his first steps away from the cot, limping slightly and steadying himself on the nearby nightstand.

"Wait, where are you going?" Aisha stood up quickly and supported his right side as he faltered. "You can't even walk straight yet. Stay here, I'll go help him."

"T-that's okay..." Chung smiled awkwardly as Aisha and Elsword glared fiercely at one another. "I'll just keep looking on my own..."

"That will not be necessary." A slight breeze ruffled the walls of the tent as Raven, Rena, Eve, and Oberon filled the doorway behind Chung.

"Ah, there you are." Chung smiled softly and stepped aside, allowing Eve to move past him and took up residence in the center of the tent. "Are these your friends?"

"Huh?" Elsword blinked as both he and Aisha turned to Eve, lost and bewildered.

A few feet away, Eve hesitated, blushing slightly at Chung's insistent use of the word 'friends' even though Eve had repeatedly, though unconvincingly, referred to them as only comrades. Ignoring his question, she held her hand out and pointed to Aisha and Elsword.

"This is Aisha, and that is Elsword. The two standing with Oberon are Raven and Rena." She turned and held her hand open at her side, motioning toward Chung. "And this is Chung Seiker, first crown prince of Hamel."

"Ah, um, hello everyone." Chung gave a quick, slight bow. "I've heard a lot about you all from miss Eve, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Wait, that voice..." Raven's eyes narrowed as he studied the young prince.

"Yeah, you're right, I heard it before, but where..." Elsword stared, his voice trailing off as he searched his memory. In the corner of the room, Rena simply smiled, waiting for everyone else to realize what she knew from the moment she walked into the room. Finally, after a few seconds of awkward scrutiny, Aisha's eyes went wide and she nearly shouted.

"You're the one who was fighting with us on the bridge!" At that moment, Elsword and Raven realized it as well and the three of them

Eve turned to her, staring quizzically. "Of course. Why do you seem surprised?"

"Hm..." Raven closed his eyes and crossed his arms. "I guess I shouldn't be though. What was that weapon you were using?"

"Oh, the Destroyer? It's-" Chung opened his mouth wide with excitement and immediately reigned himself back in, stifling his enthusiasm. "It's a barrier cannon, we've been using them in Hamel for a few decades."

"Well, you might be interested in his weapon..." Rena smiled coyly at Raven and stepped forward, "but I'm a bit more curious to hear just how he met Eve in the first place."

"Ah, well, I was floating in the sea, but-"

"Wait." Elsword grimaced as he glared aimlessly. "Where the hell is Hamel?"

At his side, Aisha scowled and seared the side of his face with her eyes. "Have you never looked at a map before in your life!?"

"Well, I never heard of it before so how the hell would I know to even look for it?" Elsword turned aside and met her gaze and they glared hard at one another. Across the room, Eve moved alongside Chung and lowered her voice.

"Please do not mind them. I do not understand entirely, but they are fond of arguing with one another even though they get along quite well when left alone."

"That makes sense." Chung nodded plainly. "They seemed to be getting along just fine before I got here too. I wonder why they argue so much when there are other people around then?"

As soon as Eve and Chung had finished their exchange, Elsword and Aisha choked up immediately, their faces flushed and frozen as Rena burst into a fit of laughter. In the corner of the room, Oberon had doubled over laughing, and even Raven was covering his mouth and stifling a chuckle, all while Eve and Chung stood staring blankly at them.

"Well," She giggled slightly, "Is this true? Have you two been secretly getting along while we aren't looking?" Her voice was sly and mischievous as she glanced sidelong at them, waiting to see their bashful reactions.

"Wh-what are you talking about?" Aisha blushed and stepped aside, suddenly aware that she had been holding Elsword's shoulders up ever since Chung arrived. "I mean, we just get along normally, like normal people in a normal way! B-besides-"

The fragile timbre of her voice was soon buried under the sound of a hasty march as shouts filled the air and a frigid howl cut through the night. Before the second howl sounded through the camp, everyone rushed out of the recovery tent and turned to see the flash of sparks and steel at the foot of the ruined bridge. Panicked shouts and painful screams echoed through the crowd of soldiers as they darted through the maze of half-standing tents and scattered supplies as a cloud of ghastly smoke crashed through the campsite as though it were a hail of artillery fire. In the shadows of the chapel gates, a circle of robed demons stood waving their hands through the air, chanting loudly as Feita's knights struggled to stand against the formless ghosts that were reaching past their blades, through their armor, and into their skin, leaving twisting black bruises on everyone they touched. Without hesitation, Elsword reached over his shoulder and prepared to run into the fray... when he realized that his sword was still laying beneath his cot in the recovery ward. As he turned to retrieve it, Rena glanced back at him and smiled confidently.

"Hold the line back here, okay? We'll take care of things at the front."

"But-" He scowled as Aisha reached over and grabbed his shoulder, sending a sharp pain shooting down his arm.

"Do you really think you're in good enough shape to do anything right now?" Aisha glowered at him, annoyed by his thoughtless bravado even as she shared his frustration. Reluctantly, the two of them returned to the medical tent to retrieve their weapons while their friends headed out into the dim haze of shrieks and screams.

As Chung ran across the camp to retrieve his Freuturnier and Raven hurried to guard the infirmary, Rena and Eve quickly took the high ground and surveyed the field; nearly a quarter of the campsite lay in ruins as the wispy revenants tore through everything they touched and left only rubble in their wake. Across the courtyard, soldiers scrambled to their feet and ran to the outskirts of the camp. Those that stayed behind to fight and cover their comrades' retreat found themselves swinging through empty air, their blades unable to touch the wavering form of the spirits around them. As they struck out desperately, a swift, unseen force thrust them through the air and hurled them far across the courtyard, sometimes right through the canopy of nearby tents and onto the wounded within.

Drawing her bow, Rena fired a round off into the deathly mist below only to see her arrows pass through the spectres and dug into the ground.

"Hm..." She frowned slightly, disappointed. "I was afraid of that... let's try and take out those mages." Just as she trained her bow on the circle of demons gathered across the ravine, a ghastly claw swept across the wall beneath her feet and slashed through the ancient stone, forcing Rena to leap back and retreat along the high wall. Just as she landed, however, the ground underfoot gave way as another ghost crashed through the wall, leaving her suspended in the air over a swirling, shrieking mist. As the ghosts below opening their gaping, shapeless mouths to swallow her whole, Rena felt a firm hand pulling her up into the air as Eve rushed in and carried her back to safety.

"Rena, are you uninjured?" Setting her feet firmly on the ground, Eve lowered her arms and helped Rena back up to her feet.

"Yes, thanks" Rena smiled softly and sighed. "They're not giving us much breathing room. Do you think you could distract them a bit while I line up a shot?"

Eve nodded. "Of course. Oberon." Eve held her hand out at her side and Oberon appeared before her. In a single, smooth motion, she reached down and grabbed Oberon by the collar and pitched him through the air and tumbling into the chapel's ornate facade. As he fell from the wall, dizzy and disoriented, he crashed into a pair of chanting demons and inadvertently knocked them to their knees. As soon as they stopped mumbling their summons, two of the ghastly beasts in the courtyard froze and faded away. Grabbing onto another demon's cloak, he pulled himself up to his feet and shook his head out, regaining his composure and preparing to deliver a single, fatal strike to mages around him. Before he could act, the two mages he had bowled over hopped up to their feet and began beating him with their wands while a third chanted quickly beneath his breath and called forth a billow cloud of thick, black smoke that charged toward him.

* * *

While Oberon fled the advancing cloud of seething ash, Elsword and Aisha watched anxiously as the camp slowly came apart all around them. As their eyes traced the coursing flow of the fight, a dull streak of silver sped through the sky toward them. Within moments, Raven crashed into the soft ground beside them, slamming his left arm into the earth as he landed to soften his fall. As he caught his breath and rose to his feet, Elsword and Aisha hurried over to his side.

"Raven, you okay!?" Elsword looked down to see Raven's sword and left arm covered in a thin coat of rust, his chest and shoulders splashed with broad, oozing black bruises. Stabbing the ground with his sword and using it to steady himself, Raven stood slowly and scoffed.

"Mostly. Looks like I'm useless this time though..." He glanced down at his blade and scowled. Not only had his attacks all passed through the phantoms without leaving so much as a scratch, but every part of the blade that came into contact with its shifting form began to decay. Taking note of his failure, Elsword latched his blade onto his back and kindled a small flame in each of his hands.

"Alright, then we'll do it this way."

"That won't work either." Aisha called up to him from a nearby crate where she sat skimming through her grimoire. Sensing Elsword's indignant glare even without pulling her eyes from the page, she stole a quick glance at the approaching spectres and spoke swiftly. "If it can't be cut with a sword, normal magic won't work on it either. The magic we us all the time is focused on changing the physical world around us, to cut and burn and guard and hold things, so if something doesn't have a physical body then our magic will just pass right through it. You've got to use a spell that channels magic into the spiritual realm but..."

"But what?" Elsword glared at her impatiently and she scowled fiercely as she slammed her grimoire shut.

"It's not like I know any of those formulas!" She stood abruptly and grabbed her wand, gripping it tightly. "It's a lot more complicated and there's not much use for it normally, so there's only one aether spell I know off hand..."

"Well, you'd better hurry up with it." Raven pulled his sword from the dirt and held it out at his side. "They're headed this way."

Frantic, Aisha searched through the dredges of her memory for the last lines of an old incantation while Elsword and Raven stood helplessly at her side. In the very next instant, a ghastly whisper ripped through the air and crashed down around them as a cloud of spectral haze rushed toward them. As a pair of airy claws closed in around them, Aisha's mind went blank and the last words of the spell she had been searching for fell away into the breeze. Stunned, she could only watch as the spectre's shadow came crashing down on her, its jaws breaking away from its bulk and circling around her head ready to clamp down on her neck... and then, in the next moment, vanishing.

Gleaming brightly in the night, a heavy blade parted the deathly fog with a single stroke, its surface alight with an unearthly glow. Behind the blade stood Penensio, eyes full of fire as he spun round and cut through another ghost at his back. As the air cleared around him, a faint stream of light rose from his sword and broken into a thousand tiny shards that crackled and scattered into the sky.

"Oh, you're the ones they call 'captains', aren't you?" Penensio smiled confidently as he returned his sword to its sheath. "Are any of you hurt?"

"N-no, we're all fine, I think..." Aisha shook her head out lightly, checking herself for new wounds. "Raven, are you still-"

"What the hell was that!?" Elsword leapt into the conversation head first, his eyes fixed on Penensio's scabbard. "How'd you cut that thing?"

"Oh, that?" Penensio reached for his sword and drew it out just a few inches. When he did, a small sigil began to shine across its surface before he dropped it back in its sheath. "I enchanted the blade so that I could cut through aether. Have you never seen someone use the Runes before?"

"Runes? Yeah, I have but- wait..." Elsword blinked and pondered a moment before erupting in a frantic fit of excitement. "You're one of the Red Knights, aren't you!? Have you ever-"

A soft tug on his sleeve pulled his attention away as Aisha stared at him with a curious concern. "Elsword, we're in the middle of a fight..."

"But-"

"Hahaha," Penensio gave a hearty laugh as he turned and walked back toward the sounds of battle. "Don't worry, we can talk once this is all finished." Without looking back, he drew his sword and charged into a shrieking spectre, slashing through its gaping fangs and rushing off to face his next opponent. Clenching his jaw and breathing heavily, Elsword's eyes were filled with anxious unease. Although they were all safe for the moment, he looked even more worried now than he had been when they were under attack.

"What's wrong with you?" Aisha glared at Elsword in an attempt to draw an answer out of him but her voice and eyes softened when she saw his fingers trembling. "...Elsword?"

"Huh?" He shook his head out hard, clenching his fists and rolling his shoulder as his eyes drifted off to his side. "Yeah, I'm fine..."

Aisha scowled at him, annoyed. "No you're not, now-"

"Leave him, for now." Raven stepped forward and glanced aside at Elsword. "...If you're going to lie, make it better than that. It's fine if you don't want to talk about it now, but take care of it before the next fight. Leaving an open wound to rot will kill you."

As Elsword met his gaze, his chest tightened and for a moment, he forgot to breath. For the breadth of a second, he saw a raging conflict boiling behind Raven's eyes, hidden quickly behind his calm demeanor. Shocked and entirely exhausted, Elsword could only nod lightly in agreement.

* * *

Within three minutes of the Red Knights' arrival on the field, the battle was over. With their summoned spirits easily defeated, the demonic necromancers fell quickly under Oberon's blades and a hail of gleaming arrows. In fact, by the time Chung had retrieved his Freuturnier and returned to the field, many of the soldier had already begun sifting through their ruined tents and salvaging every scrap of material that they could.

In the center of the camp, the Red Knights gathered together in the field hospital and tended to those who bore the oozing black wounds left by the phantoms' touch. Sighing heavily at the side of an empty cot, Penensio waved the next soldier over. Wincing as she lowered herself onto her side, she gripped her ribs tightly as Penensio inscribed a series of runes into the air above her. Within a few moments, the runes began to shimmer and glow, lifting a dark miasma form the soldier's wounds and clearing her skin of the ghastly curse.

"There you are, those wound should close up within the hour now. Be sure to dress them as normal, I may be able to lift a curse in seconds but an infection isn't so simple."

"Thanks- Nngh..." The soldier cringed as she rolled onto her back, gritting her teeth and clenching her fists as she waited for a doctor to come by an finish her treatment. As Penensio searched the room for the next beleaguered warrior waiting for the necromancer's curse to be lifted from their bones, he felt an intense gaze burning into the back of his skull. When he turned around, Elsword's eager eyes were there to greet him.

"Oh, it's you," Penensio looked down and acknowledged Elsword's presence briefly before wringing out his hands and rifling through a medical kit at his side. "I'll be a little bit longer here with all the wounded. Could you come back later, at the end of the evening?

"..." Elsword stared silently, his gaze stern and severe as he held his ground. "...I'll wait here."

Penensio paused, his hands slowing to a stop as he studied Elsword's face. "...I suppose this is about something a bit more serious than runes and ghosts, isn't it?"

Elsword didn't answer. Closing his eyes and breathing in slowly, Penensio set aside his medical kit and turned toward the back of the tent. "Alright, I'll hear you out. Follow me, but just keep in mind that we'll have to make this quick."

Nodding, Elsword hurried after him, through the rows of weary soldiers and out into the crisp summer's night, across the mangled campsite and into the far corners of the moonlit courtyard. As soon as Penensio stopped, he scribed a circle in the air at his side and two nearby torches were wrapped in a gentle flame. With a satisfied nod, Penensio turned and leaned back against the wall, smiled warmly with his wrist resting across the hilt of his sword.

"So, what's on your mind?"

Silence stood as Elsword struggled to reign in his racing heart, his jaw clenched and his knuckles white. Breathing in sharply, he felt his chest ache as he opened his mouth at last. "...Have you ever heard of a Red Knight... named Elsa?"

As that name brushed Penensio's ears, his smile faded and his eyes narrowed as if a grim shadow had fallen upon him. "Boy, what's your name?"

"Elsword." He replied without hesitation even as his anxiety grew. "Elsa's my sister."

"..." Penensio stared in awe and dismay, scarcely even breathing until finally he gave a great, weary sigh. "So you're Elsa's brother... She told me about you, but I didn't expect I'd meet you in a place like this... It's been... how long now, well over a year now since we've had word from her detachment. Now, calm down a moment..." Penensio raised his right hand just as Elsword's mouth began to fall and the color drained from his face. "We haven't heard from her, so I can't say where she is or what she's doing, but there's no need to panic over her as it is. I've seen her fell a bear in a single stroke, so I doubt she's come to any harm." For a brief moment, as he watched the waves of relief and terror washing over Elsword's face, Penensio realized why his subordinates never allowed him to deliver bad news, or any sort of news for that matter.

"Do you know where she is though?" Elsword's voice cracked and jumped sharply, his eyes pleading as he spoke, "I've been... I've been looking for her for a long time, and..." His words caught in his throat, trapped by a cruel sense of helplessness and a steadily growing fear. Without another word, Penensio grinned and gave Elsword a hearty pat on the shoulder.

"What are you doing, looking like that? You're going to feel like a fool when she marches back into Velder with half her squad slung over one shoulder and an ox over the other." He chuckled fondly and stared off into the maze of stars overhead. "Ah, yes, you haven't seen your sister in a few years then, have you? She told me about you several times before, though I never expected you to look so much like her..." He glanced down quickly and noticed that Elsword had calmed down considerably. Lowering his eyes to meet Elsword's gaze, he smiled, soft and wistful as the breeze swept his hair across his shoulders. "Well then, would you like me to tell you why we call her Elsa the Dragon Butcher?"

Elsword's eyes went wide and for a moment, he forgot to breath. "Dragon Butcher? That's what you call her?"

Penensio gave a deep, jovial laugh that filled the dark corners of the courtyard. "Well, to be completely honest, she's earned more than a dozen different titles in the past few years... Elsa the Bear Tamer, Elsa the Mountain Cutter, Elsa the Red Terror, though the one she's probably best known by among the Red Knights is the one I'm a bit ashamed of... Elsa the Rune Slayer." He reached up and rubbed the side of his neck as the memory of an old wound crossed his mind once more and Elsword watched in curious wonder. "You may have heard, but in order to command your own division within our order, you must first fight against the commander, which right now would be me. Now, we never tell them this, but it's a fight that we expect them to lose. The idea is to test each knight to see how they react to fighting a battle that they know they will lose, to see how they will handle themselves under such extreme pressure. We tell them they have to win, and then we put them in a situation where victory is impossible. In hindsight, it may have been more than a little arrogant on my part to assume that I'd be able to best any challenger, because when Elsa stepped into the ring to face me, she not only beat me, but she did it in less than a minute. I didn't have a chance to cast more than a single rune in that fight, and at the end of it everyone started calling her Elsa the Rune Slayer. I doubt I'll ever live that day down..."

"Heh..." Elsword lowered his eyes and laughed softly. "I coulda told you it'd turn out like that. My sister's the strongest person I know."

"Well then, I don't think I'd be wrong to say the same goes for both of us." Penensio grinned and stepped away from the courtyard wall. "Your sister's something of a legend among the Red Knights you know. I've got a hundred stories to tell about her, if you ever want to hear them."

Elsword blinked and nodded quickly "Yeah, of course."

"Haha, excellent." Penensio patted Elsword on the shoulder as he walked past and headed back toward the field hospital. "I've got to treat the rest of the wounded, but come over the Red Knight's camp whenever you like and we'll be sure to tell you of all the times your sister's put the rest of us to shame. And Elsword," he turned back for just a moment, his eyes warm and confident, "If you can make it through this, then I've no doubt that you'll find Elsa someday."

Elsword grinned broadly as the torchlight faded and the moon slipped out from behind the clouds. "Damn right I will."

* * *

"Hmm..." Running his hand across finely chiseled stone, Chung strained his eyes to see the shrine's ancient etchings in the faint and flickering firelight. Standing in the shadows at his back, Oberon looked on over his shoulder at the graven images of the earliest nasod standing atop the altar of dedication alongside humans, elves, and every other inhabitant of Elrios. Each time the summer breeze brushed against the nearby torches, the shadows cast across the wall shuddered and revealed another fragment of the faraway past.

"These have to be at least as old as the glyphs in the water temple back home... I don't really understand what's going on in them though. Do you recognize any of these people?" Chung looked aside to Oberon who promptly shook his head. As the torches flickered in the wind, however, he caught sight of a small, meticulously carved figure standing atop a floating island. Tracing the figure with his fingertips, he suddenly grew calm and his normally erratic movements slowed to a stop. As Chung followed his fingers and studied the figure himself, he realized that it wasn't altogether unfamiliar to him.

"Ah, that... why does that seem so familiar..." he grabbed the nearest torch and took it in hand, raising it up over Oberon's head and illuminating the stone reflection of an ancient Nasod army. "I think I've seen a picture of this nasod before... miss Eve has a picture of her somewhere, doesn't she...?" He wracked his memory, trying to trace the familiar face back through his mind and meeting with little success. "Mmm... this is going to bother me now. I wonder who she is..."

"She is the Empress Astarte... The last ruler of the Nasod Empire." Stepping out of the night and into the ruined corridor, Eve's feet scarcely made a sound as they fell across the crumbling marble floors. Alongside her, Rena held a single, bright torch to light the way for Eve and Allegro, the overburdened secretary, historian, and treasurer of Feita. As they arrived at the wall where Chung and Oberon waited, Allegro nearly tripped over himself and lost his grip on the three dozen rolls of parchment that he held between his arms.

"Ah! S-sorry..." Allegro bowed his head quickly as he knelt down to gather his scrolls up only to find another hand reaching out toward his own.

"Here." Chung held out a handful of rolled parchment with an bright smile on his face.

"Oh, Thanks..." Accepting the scrolls with a nod, Allegro fumbled over to the wall and knelt to the ground, carefully placing his cargo on the cleanest bit of rock and rubble he could find. "So where would you like me to begin?"

"Hmm... well, can you start by telling us the history of the Last Day?" Rena moved toward the wall, torch in hand and smiling awkwardly. "I've heard it before, but that was a few decades ago... and I doubt Eve and Chung have heard the story from the shrine's perspective before, right?"

"Yes." Eve glanced over at Oberon, her eyes fixed on the image at his fingertips. "I would like to hear your account of the Last Day."

Lost and confused, Chung turned to Eve and blinked. "The Last Day? The last day of what?"

"You might know it by a different name, if you aren't from Lurensia..." Allegro reached into his satchel and pulled out a long, narrow scroll. "For most of the world's early history, the El wasn't scattered around all over the world like it is today. Over a thousand years ago, at the top of this shrine, on the altar of dedication, there stood a single, massive El crystal that lit the entire world and allowed every race to prosper. It wasn't like today, where there are hundreds of acres of land that nothing can live or grow in for a lack of El, and even though there were still wars and famines, it was probably a much easier time to live in than the present..." He paused, unfurling his scroll and pinning it down with a pair of pebbles from the ground at his feet. "You see, the sum total of all the El in the world isn't actually enough to cover every part of Elrios with its light, but when the El was all in one piece at the shrine, it could be amplified so that it covered the every inch of the land and sky. In order to do that, the first high priestess of Feita became the Lady of the El, the one who watches over the El without tiring, every moment of the day. I'm not really sure what sort of person she was, but the way the scholars have written about her, she almost sounds like a goddess..."

Drawing her eyes across the scroll at Allegro's feet, Rena nodded quietly and set her torch in a recess in the wall. "Yes, I remember hearing a few different versions of the story when I was growing up. Some people thought that the Lady of the El was just a ceremonial position that was handed down from one high priestess to the next, but the elders in my village were always insistent that she was the very same person all along... If that's the case, then she would have been hundreds of years old by the time the Last Day came along..."

"Yes, that's what I think too, at least. If the Lady of the El was just a hereditary, ceremonial position like it is today, then the rest of the histories don't make much sense..." Allegro withdrew another scroll from his pack and spread it out across the wall, revealing a finely detailed sketch of the mural on the wall before them. "About twelve hundred years ago, during the Harmony festival, almost every leader of all the world's kingdoms and empires and nations gathered together at the shrine to pay homage to the Lady of the El and thank her for tending to the El Crystal for another year. Most people admired the Lady of the El and a few were indifferent, but supposedly, there was just one person who despised her position. According to this carving, Salvatore Solace, the master of the sun, felt sorrow for the Lady of the El and came to hate the masses of the world who demanded that she remain with the El, day in and day out without rest and without a moment's peace for herself. He felt it was cruel and unjust that in the midst of their feasting and celebration of peace and harmony that the one person who was forbidden from taking part in the festivities was also the one responsible for protecting the peace of the world in the first place. This is where things get a bit tricky, since there are more than a dozen different versions of just who or what caused Salvatore Solace to finally fly into an open rage, but in the end, he cursed the world that had practically enslaved the Lady of the El and he sought to free her from her fate, carrying her away from the shrine and far across the world to a place where she was no longer bound to her duty. Without the Lady of the El to channel its energies, however, the El crystal began to shake violently and soon it exploded into billions of smaller shards and stones that flew out across the world. With the light of El retreating from so much of the land, hundreds of thousands of people died in that instant alone and thousands more died from starvation and the wars that followed. The catastrophe of the El's explosion was so great that many people feared it was the end of all life as they knew it, so they began calling it 'The Last Day' out of the fear that it would be the final day of life on Elrios..."

Rolling is scroll back up and replacing it in his pack, Allegro backed away from the wall and sighed. "Is that all you wanted to hear about?"

Pausing for only a moment, Eve traced the wall with her eyes and shook her head. "No. I am more interested in what happened after that. I have heard from Empress Astarte herself about the wars over possession of the El that came about as a result of the Last Day, and I saw their results myself..." Eve's voice wavered, as if a wave of sharp pain had passed over her as she spoke. "However, I have not heard of what happened to Salvatore Solace and the Lady of the El after that time."

"W-well..." Allegro hesitated, biting his lower lip and glancing aside. "That... that's not something we know a lot about... according to tradition, the other guardians of Elrios set out in pursuit of them, and they're still chasing them to this day... I think..."

"Well, that's one version of it..." Rena sighed lightly and leaned back against the wall. "It's also the one passed on by the followers of Salvatore Solace. I've heard a little bit about the alternate histories, but I don't know them completely. Do you mind filling in the parts that I don't know?" She smiled softly at Allegro and won him over, although his eyes continued to shift uncomfortably as they spoke.

"A-alright, if it's just bits and pieces..."

"Good." Rena nodded and glanced aside to Eve and Chung as they watched and waited patiently. "So, the official history is that Salvatore Solace valiantly rescued the Lady of the El from the shrine where she was practically kept as a prisoner and forced into servitude for eternity, and then they escaped together and live somewhere far away as a happy couple while the world crumbles all around them. That's the version told by the followers of Salvatore Solace, who were the only ones left alive after the explosion of the El. I've heard another history of the Last Day that claims that the Lady of the El was actually kidnapped against her will, and that Salvatore Solace abducted her either as a result of unrequited love or misplaced altruism. Either way, because he was a kidnapper and not a savior in that version, all of the other masters pursued him relentlessly not to punish him, but to rescue the Lady of the El. Then, there's the matter of just where they are now, which is what I've never really heard much about..."

"Ah, um..." Allegro fiddled with his sleeves and cleared his throat quietly. "Well, that... that version of history isn't entirely inaccurate... as for where they are now, it's hard to say, but there's one popular theory about it. Supposedly, Salvatore Solace alone would have stood no chance against the combined strength of the other guardians, so he had to flee to a place where they couldn't follow him. Since the world of Elrios was their domain, however, there was nowhere in this realm that he could go to hide or escape, so he crafted a spell that drew upon the power of the El to open the gates into another world..."

As soon as Allegro spoke those words, his eyes went wide and his mouth dropped open. Contemplating this recent revelation, Eve and Rena exchanged a quick, knowing glance. "Then, it is possible that the current invasion is a result of Salvatore Solace's actions during the Last Day."

Allegro paused, sighing wearily. "I'm not sure... I... I suppose it's possible..."

"Um..." Chung raised his hand, smiling blankly as he stood entirely bewildered. "I have no idea how you made that connection."

With a light giggle, Rena stepped over to Allegro's pile of scrolls and extended her hand above them. "May I?"

"O-of course." Allegro nodded quickly and Rena picked out a scroll of musty vellum and held it open for Chung to see.

"You see all these sigils? This is the sort of magic that's used by the guardians of Elrios. I don't know if you saw anything like it in Fluone, but these sigils are all over the temples and shrines across Lurensia. There's no way to know for sure, but it's possible that Salvatore Solace used a sigil like this to open a gate into another world. Since his power depended on the El, he probably had to carve the sigil into an El crystal that would have stayed behind on Elrios... Do you see what we're getting at?"

As Rena's words cascaded across Chung's ears, he slowly fit the pieces of her logic together in his mind. If Salvatore Solace created a spell that would open a gate to another world, then he would have left a record of it behind, and then someone else could have easily come along and copied that spell. Then, if that's the case, anyone who found that same spell could use it to open another gate and, unless Salvatore Solace used that same spell again in whatever world he fled to...

"Then..." Chung's eyes narrowed as the memory of Hamel's fall flashed across his mind. "What you're saying is that there's a good chance that the person who opened the gate and let the demons in is someone who was already in this world."

"Yes, it's definitely possible." Rena returned the scroll to Allegro and her eyes fell across the shifting shadows along the wall.

"It may not matter at this point, but..." Eve's voice melted into the wind as she stared across the solemn history of the end of their world, an ominous weight settling across her chest as she acknowledged the one possibility that she had been dreading. "...if these creatures have come from another world, and if the gate they passed through was opened from this side, then these demons are not our only enemies..."

* * *

With the curse from his wounds finally lifted, Raven sat upright on his cot and rubbed the soreness from his left shoulder. "Tch... this arm's not moving like it should..." He tried to flex his left elbow only to see it creak and lock up, a result of the phantom's corrosive touch. He thought to ask Eve to look into it tonight, but the sharp pain in his side and the grumbling of his stomach forced him to concede for the evening and head back to the captains' tent where Elsword and Aisha waited. Or rather, where they were supposedly preparing the evening's meal, though Raven was more than a little skeptical about what he'd be eating; there were no streams nearby and thus no fish they could catch and char, and as far as he was aware that was the extent of their combined culinary abilities.

When he approached their tent, a disheartening plume of smoke drifted past his face.

"Ah, what are you doing!?" Aisha reached over Elsword's shoulder and grabbed his wrist, pulling it back just before he tossed a bundle of tiny orange peppers into a bubbling pot of soup. "If you put in that many it'll be too spicy for anyone to eat!"  
"It's all we've got to season it with though." Elsword scowled and pouted, "Fine, it'll be your fault if it tastes like crap."

"..." Raven stared at them, for a moment unsure of whether he had walked into the right campsite or had somehow found his way into the home of a bickering old couple. Laughing to himself, he headed over to Aisha's side where she sat spinning a wild boar on a spit. On his way, he noticed a pile of greens and herbs gathered into piles next to Elsword and a boiling pot of rich broth and knuckle bones before him. Since the best meal Raven had seen in the past two months had been a pile of bear jerky and a baked apple, he greeted the feast with great caution. "Where did you get all this? The forests around her have been bare since the demons showed up..."

"Oh, I picked it up outside of Velder..." Aisha spun the boar onto its side and brushed its skin with a mixture of vinegar and spices. "It put up a fight too, so I kind of had to pre-cook it a bit..." She smiled sheepishly as she doused the hide with spices once more before turning it again.

"Hey, Aisha, hand me the butter..." Elsword held his hand out over his shoulder and Aisha tossed him a large, icy block of butter from her pack while Raven stood somewhere between dumbstruck awe and abject horror.

_How... How is that possible... Velder is at least two days away from here on horseback, and she made the trip in less than three hours, carrying a boar? And where did they get all those spices, and butter, and..._He stared, wide eyed and amazed. Truly, Aisha and Elsword's devotion to food was a profound and mysterious thing. As he resigned himself to accept this as one of life's many unexplainable phenomena, Rena, Chung, Eve, and Oberon stepped out of the shadows and into the light of their campfire.

"Ah, it smells really good" Rena smiled and hovered over the pot of boiling vegetable stew just as Elsword added a pair of onions and a handful of tiny potatoes. "Do you all need any help?"

"Nah, we're fine." Elsword answered as he chopped a row of carrots down into tiny chips before tossing them into the pot. "You guys find what you were lookin' for?"

"Hm..." Rena paused and stood back for a moment. "Well, yes, but we'll worry about that later. Tonight's the first time we've all been together in over half a year, so let's just relax for a while~"

"I agree. We will have plenty of time to talk about that tomorrow." Eve moved across the campsite and sat down on a bench beside Aisha.

"Speaking of tomorrow..." Raven grimaced bitterly as he gathered himself and walked over to Eve, extending his left arm out to her as best he could. The moment she saw it, she glared up at him sharply.

"..." Eve glared silently at Raven, and Raven stared back uneasily. After a few moments of intense scrutiny, Eve closed her eyes and turned her attention back to the fire. "Very well, I will repair it tomorrow. We will need to make modifications to all of our armaments anyway if we will be facing any other enemies similar to the creatures we fought with tonight."

"Ah, no, no no no!" Aisha reached down into a bucket at her side and found it full of air, her hand tapping the bottom with a light thud as she searched its depths and corners. "I need more water, can somebody fill this bucket for me?"

"Oh, of course!" Chung rushed over and picked up the bucket and hurried off to the supply caravan without another word. Across the fire, Rena took a seat next to Raven and giggled.

"He's got a lot of enthusiasm."

"Heh... yeah, reminds me of how I was at that age..." Raven smiled slightly and stared off into the sky, indulging in the fond warmth of nostalgia. Stunned by this apparent revelation, Aisha and Elsword had dropped their tools and turned to face Raven, staring skeptically at his rugged, scarred face and struggling to imagine him as a spry, happy, young gentleman.

"You... you were like that...? Like a prince?" Aisha tried to blink away her disbelief as she spoke, though it was obvious to everyone that she doubted her own words. Not surprisingly, Raven doubted them as well.

"Well... no, not really anything like that actually..."

Rena laughed and poked him in the side with her below. "Although I might like to see that; Raven dressed in a gold trimmed jacket and little pointed shoes..."

Eve immediately turned toward them and opened her console, enlarging the image of a fanciful outfit made of velvet and lined with lace. "I prepared a diplomatic wardrobe for Oberon before we arrived. Those clothes would likely fit you, if you have a desire to wear such a thing... though there are no pointed shoes."

"...No thank you." Raven scowled at the very thought and everyone but Eve chuckled lightly. Just a few moments later, Chung returned with a five gallon bucket of water which he promptly set down at Aisha's side.

"Here you are. Did you need anything else?"

Aisha shook her head slightly. "Thanks, I'm fine, but you didn't have to run to get the water, I didn't really need it that badly."

"No, it's no trouble at all." Chung smiled brightly, "I run with my Destroyer all the time, so just one bucket of water is really nothing."

"R-really?" Aisha turned aside to Eve and whispered into her ear "Are you sure he's not a Nasod?"

Eve nodded. "He is entirely human, though I do not believe he is what you would consider 'typical'."

"Um, miss Aisha-" Chung reached out slightly and drew his hand back as soon as Aisha turned to face him. "Or, I guess, since you're older than me, I should call you Aisha-Noona... I heard from miss Eve that you're a really powerful magician."

"T-That's..." Aisha blushed lightly, caught completely off guard by such blithe and effortless compliments. "That's exactly right!" She grinned smugly as she splashed a spoonful of vinegar over the roasting boar. "I am a great and powerful magician who deserves to be called -Noona by everyone younger than me!" She glared across the fire at Elsword who scoffed and turned away to focus on his bubbling pot of stew. Settling in alongside her, Chung knelt down to the ground and let his eyes drift off toward the fire.

"We don't have that many magicians back in Hamel... actually, they aren't too common in all of Senace, so I think it's really impressive that you're so strong already..."

"Tch." From across the campsite, Elsword dropped his knife and marched over to Aisha's side, picked Chung up by his shoulders, and plopped him down on the ground next to Eve.

"...Huh?" Chung blinked and looked all around him, confused by his sudden change in perspective while Elsword scowled and returned to the stew. "What happened?"

"Elsword." Aisha glared sharply at him and he returned her biting gaze. The very next moment, however, Rena's lyrical laughter cut through their silent feud.

"Aisha, don't worry about it too much. He's being rude because he's jealous, and he's probably just jealous because he likes you~"

"No, that's not-" Elsword turned and spat out half a denial before Rena's coy smile silenced him.

"Not what?" She tilted her head and tapped her fingers against the bench. "I'm just teasing you, you know, you don't need to get that worked up about it."

"Nn..." Elsword bit his tongue and turned away while Aisha kept her head down to hide the red that had crept into her cheeks. Thoroughly perplexed, Chung turned aside to Eve and lowered his voice.

"What did she mean when she said he was jealous... I don't think I understand what's going on."

"I am not sure myself." Eve crossed her arms and glanced over at Elsword. "... though it likely has something to do with complicated human courtship rituals. It is best not to trouble yourself over it."

Chung nodded firmly. "I see. Then, if that's the case then you're probably right..."

As the evening wore on, the midsummer's breeze carried the echo of their laughter across the courtyard and through the hallowed halls of the ruined shrine. Crashing against the sealed gates of the underground chapel and winding around the spire's peaks, the wind carried the sounds of warmth and celebration up to top of the shrine, up through the clouds, and onto the altar of dedication. Resting in the midst of the altar, a single, massive El crystal pulsed and gleamed in the moonlight, it's surface scarred by the lines of a powerful, ancient magical seal. Hanging overhead, a colossal, shimmering circle of light rippled in the breeze, its surface reflecting a world far, far away from Elrios. As the clouds stirred below and washed across the altar, a great, fearsome howl split the air, churning the sky above and the clouds below as a thick haze of mist and fog gushed out of the open gate and a pair of bright, burning blue eyes opened onto the night.


	39. Hallowed

Hallowed

* * *

Screams swirled around Aisha's ears as a burst of blue fire swept across the city behind her, engulfing the night sky and casting an unearthly glow across the ruined streets. For a moment, Aisha's eyes fluttered and she felt her head swimming. As she looked around her, she realized that she couldn't recognize any of the scenery. Elsword stood next to her shouting, but she couldn't hear a word of what he said. Before she could make sense of her surroundings, the ground beneath her feet began to quake and quiver, ripping apart at the seams as a massive black claw crashed into the earth. Standing before her, a gigantic wolf growled and snorted, it's breath a cold blue flame and its eyes blazing brightly in the night as it bared its fangs prepared to charge.

Cold sweat dripped down her spine and burning smoke scorched her lungs, defeating her words before she could even give them breath. From the corner of her eye, she could see that Elsword's legs were trembling and covered in blood, his knees twisting unnaturally as he supported himself on his sword. All around her, Aisha could hear the shouts and cheers of the townsfolk as they cried out desperately for the beast's demise. Then, as if to taunt her, the demon wolf brought its nose within an inch of Aisha's face, opened its jaws, and cackled. Putrid slime oozed from the beast's fangs as its shrill laughter stirred the flames and shook the ground. Scowling and completely drained of all patience, Aisha slammed her wand into the ground and clapped her hands together, jumping back as a colossal black spiked sphere crashed down from the sky and landed at her feet. Without a moment's pause, she kicked the ball into the demon's hanging jaw and the beast immediately closed its mouth and swallowed. Frozen in time, the wolf's eyes grew larger and larger until a final, deafening burst ripped through its stomach and sent its head flying high into the air.

As Aisha stood back and caught her breath, the flames faded away and the smoke cleared, leaving only rubble and ash and the carcass of the demon wolf. Relaxing just a bit, Aisha turned aside to Elsword and smiled. Before she could take another breath, the cheering crowd rushed forward and hoisted her high into the air, bouncing her overhead as they carried her into the town square. Spinning and flailing about, Aisha could scarcely see anything but the sky above as the townsfolk rejoiced at the death of the demon beast and praised Aisha's efforts. Although the town square should have only been a few dozen yards away, Aisha felt as if she had traveled for miles and soon her chest began to tighten and her stomach churned and twisted up into a tight knot. Her ears were ringing and her head ached as if it were about to split open, but despite all that she could just scarcely make out something unsettling working its way into the chants and cheers of the crowd. Their words were the same, but now their faces were all twisted in rage and spite. As the remaining smoke swirled into thick dark clouds overhead, the eyes of the crowd turned toward Aisha, glowing with the same fire that had once burned on the demon's tongue. As they reached the center of the town square, the voices of the crowd began to blend together into a dark, lurid whisper.

"You killed the beast… You killed the beast that killed the prince."

The sound of smoke and crackling ash seeped into Aisha's ears as the townsfolk paused in the midst of the square. When she opened her mouth to speak, her voice failed her she coughed up a cloud of thick black soot.

"How? How did you kill it when even the prince could not?"

"Beast! Only a beast could kill such a beast!"

"Witch! She is a witch! How else could she be stronger than our prince?"

"No, I…" Aisha struggled for every breath, her words crumbling before the restless crowd.

"Kill her! Burn her! Burn her alive!"

From the back of the crowd, Elsword pushed his way through the angry mob shouting and screaming out to Aisha as the townsfolk lashed her to giant wooden stake. When Aisha tried to resist, the feeling drained from her hands and her body went limp. It took all of her strength just to raise her head and when she did, she saw Elsword forced to the ground, the townsfolk holding him down as they ran him through with a dozen swords. Ash and soot strangled her cries and she struggled against her bindings as the crowd tossed their torches into the tinder pile beneath her, their roaring black flames leaping up to lick the bottoms of her feet. Soon the smoke rising from the fire hid the burning eyes of the mob, leaving only their raucous cries behind as the flames wound themselves around Aisha's ankles. They called her witch, a demon, and a disgrace to their town and kingdom, hurling insults and cheering as the flames howled and gnawed away the tips of her toes. With taste of ash on her tongue and the words of the crowd in her ears, the visceral pain of being burned alive was beginning to overwhelm her every sense. The more she struggled, the weaker she felt, and as the flames climbed up the stake toward her, the sneering curses of the crowd turned into cheers once again.

As Aisha struggled to mutter even her weakest spell, a sharp, caustic voice called out to her from over shoulder. "Are you happy with the sort of ending?" A scathing chuckle followed those words as Aisha turned her head and search for their source and found only ash and stinging smoke.

"This seems like a terribly tragic waste…" the voice drifted over Aisha's shoulder and she scowled in its direction.

"Shut up and get over here so I can kick your face in! You think I'm too stupid to recognize a dream!?"

Has a voice crackled and faded into the flickering flames, a pair of gleaming eyes and glowing fangs appeared before her. "Of course not…" Another cackle crossed Aisha's ears as the flames wrapped themselves around her waist and sank into her skin. "But does that make it any less painful?"

Gritting her teeth, Aisha winced as the flames burned through her feet and climbed across her arms. Sweating and panting in pain, she held her screams in her chest as she pulled on the ropes binding her hands until finally the flames tore them in half. With her hands free she reached forward through the smoke and struck out at the gleaming eyes that taunted her.

A giant thud echoed through Aisha's room as she rolled out of her bed and fell to the floor. Groggy and disoriented, she tried to blink the sleep from her eyes as she raised her head and looked around. Although she remembered having a dream, she can remember any more than the faint smell of soot and ash. When she looked down to her right hand, she found it clasped around the strange statuette that Elsword had given her and as she released her grip, a sharp pain shot through her spine.

"Aisha! Hurry up and get ready, we're heading into the chapel in an hour!" Rena's voice cut through the canvas flap of Aisha's tent.

"Ah, I'll be there in a second!" stuffing the statuette into her pack, Aisha dusted herself off and headed out into the sunlight.

* * *

"Good Morn-" As Aisha stepped out into the open, the harsh summer sun overwhelmed her eyes and she shut them tightly. For a moment, she was blind within a sea of sound; the echoes of a blacksmith's hammer clashed with the electric hum of a welding torch room as a symphony of haggard voices swelled and faded in a restless refrain. As soon as Aisha's eyes had adjusted to the light, she looked around the campsite for Rena only to realize that she had already left. Still groggy from her fitful sleep, she made her way to where they had kept their campfire the night before.

"Tch!" sitting on a roughshod wooden bench near the ash of an extinguished fire, Raven winced as Eve pushed a glowing spine deep into his mechanical arm.

"Please do not move. This requires great precision." Tightening her grip on his wrist, eve began engraving the circuitry within Raven's arm. Curious, Aisha looked on over Eve's shoulder and saw a row of delicate runes glowing behind a maze of wires and metal plating. As Eve withdrew her tools, she glanced aside to scrap of parchment stared at it intently.

"Chung I do not understand this notation…"

"Ah, just a second!" A loud crash and an unearthly crackling spilled out of a nearby tent as Chung stumbled out into the open, hopping along on one foot with a small cloud of dust behind him.

"Oh, Noona! Good Morning!" He waved at Aisha as he wiped a spot of grease from his cheek, his face and hair covered in dirt and oil while his clothes remained miraculously spotless. Slightly shocked at the sight, Aisha stared in surprise and waved back. As he regained his balance and dusting himself off, Chung grabbed his Destroyer and carried it over to the bench where Eve was working. As he hoisted to the cannon up onto the bench, Aisha leaned forward and glanced aside to Eve.

"What exactly are you doing… And what's wrong with him?" She looked at Raven and saw him squinting, wincing, and covered in sweat.

"He is fine, though his pain threshold is lower than expected given my previous experience operating on him." After looking over Chung's cannon tracing the runes inscribed upon its surface, Eve resumed her work on Raven's arm, connecting the last loose lines that she had carved into his arm.

"We're not sure if it's going to work but we decided to try copying the runes from my cannon onto Raven and Oberon, so that they can actually hit those ghosts if anymore show up." Chung leaned over next to Aisha as Eve replaced the loose panels and bolts in Raven's arm.

"…Oh… that's a good idea," Aisha's shook her head slightly as Chung's words filtered their way slowly through the haze of sleep around her brain, "Where's Elsword at? We should make him put some of those on his sword so he's not so useless next time…"

"I believe he has gone to see the commander of the Red Knights." Eve slid the outer casing of Raven's Nasod arm back into place with a snap and returned her tools to their case. Scowling and rubbing his left shoulder, Raven glared at Eve as he flexed the fingers in his left hand.

"Was that necessary?"

"Yes. If I had not inscribed the runes directly onto the nerve circuits and you would not be able to control them." Eve packed her things away and stood from the bench. "Though in hindsight it would have been possible to perform the same procedure with the nerve feedback detached, but that would have required a lengthy recalibration process…"

"Tch…" Raven rolled his shoulder and stood, breathing in sharply before looking aside to Aisha, "When you're ready, Allegro wanted to see you at the gate."

Aisha nodded and turn towards the chapel gates only to be stopped before her first step.

"But…" Raven mumbled coarsely as he motioned toward a plate of dried meat and stale bread. "Eat something first. It'll be too much trouble if you collapse on your way there."

Aisha blinked and tried to stifle a laugh. _ He's so awkward, I can't tell if he's actually concerned or pissed off…_ "Thanks."

* * *

After filling her stomach, and then commandeering a jar of pickled pears, Aisha marched over to the chapel gates. Weary soldiers tried from their tents across the makeshift bridge that connected the shrine's courtyard with the base of the spire, their spirits shaking and their bones of throbbing with a persistent pain. As she approached the mass of doors that separated them from the demons taking refuge within, Aisha noticed a small swarm of mages buzzing about at the foot of the doors, their captain frantically shouting orders and shuffling through papers as they struggled to decode the intricate seal that now lay across the chapel gates. The seal itself was massive, not only in scale but in depth; while most magic seals were formed with two or three circles, the sigil scribed into the chapel gates held seven, each shimmering faintly with a spiral of spells and incantations that threatened death to any who opened the door. While she was studying the words within the seal, Allegro rushed over to her side, his hands trembling and his breath ragged.

"Miss Aisha… please, if you could…" he panted as he pointed towards the door, "We've been trying to figure out how to open the door since this morning, but we've had no luck. Can you help us, if it's not too much trouble?"

"Sure, but…" Aisha's eyes narrowed as she stared towards the crowd of mages, "Never mind. I'll take a look."

"Ah! Thank you!" Allegro's eyes beamed brightly, "This way, please." He led Aisha across the bridge, through the gathering crowd of soldiers and knights, beneath the towering pillars that held the spire's outer wall aloft, and right up the foot of the monstrous chapel doors. As Aisha reached out to touch the seal, a sharp voice cut through the air and chided her.

"Stop! Stop this instant!" The mage captain thrust his bundle of papers aside to one of his subordinates, storming it over to Aisha with disdain on his breath. "Don't touch that! Don't even stand close to it! Allegro, what is she doing here!?"

"I-I but she might be able to help, since you haven't made any-"

"We'll have made plenty of progress if you would stop getting in the way. Now please leave." Glaring sternly, the captain pointed towards the bridge and tilted his head, motioning for Aisha and Allegro to return to the other side. Bowing his head meekly, Allegro headed back towards the bridge and took a full fifteen steps before he realized that Aisha hadn't followed him.

"Look, the seal is complicated but it's not very strong," Aisha scowled as she stared back at the captain holding her grounder she pointed towards the glowing letters that hovered above the door, "If you just forced more magic into it, it would break in a second."

"I will thank you to step away and leave, we will take care of this matter ourselves." Indignant, the captain's lips curled up as Aisha stepped out of his shadow and crossed her arms.

"Why?" Aisha's eyes filled with ice as she defied the captain's gaze. "You've been at this for hours and you haven't made any progress? Would it really hurt your pride so much to just let me look at it?"

"This is not a matter of pride." The captain took a step forward and glowered down at Aisha, "The shrine is a sacred space, and I will not have it tarnished by your touch!"

The ice in Aisha's eyes turned to fire in an instant and she locked eyes with the captain. "What!?"

"Make no mistake, I am grateful to you for all you have done for us, but you are most certainly not welcome within the chapel. You practice the same craft as the demons, and your presence in the chapel would only further profane its halls. I am sure you understand, and I ask that you show respect for the sanctity of our shine by leaving at once. You are needed no further."

A strange sort of fury welled up inside of Aisha's chest. It clawed at her throat and twisted her stomach, twisting her mouth up in rage as it constricted her heart like a snake. For a moment, she wasn't sure whether she would scream or faint, and she could scarcely explain her own reaction to herself. Clenching her fist, she slammed her hand into the seal and shattered it into a million pieces, storming off without a word as the fragments rained down around her. On her way back across the bridge, she passed Penensio. He waved and called out to her, but she was too distracted by the churning, nauseous rage in her stomach to hear what he said. Frustrated and suddenly exhausted, she returned to her tent and gathered her supplies.

As she gathered the rest of her books and bundled up her bedroll, a sudden wave of weariness washed over Aisha and she let out a long, slow yawn. _ Why do I feel like I didn't actually get any sleep last night…?_ She slumped forward and stared blankly at her open pack for a moment before shaking her head down and searching through her tent for piece of parchment. As she rifled around through her things, she caught a glimpse of a small shadow passing across the outside of her tent. Slowly sitting down the pile of spare bandages and her arms, she stared toward the corner of the tent and waited to see if the shadow would appear again. As she watched the canvas walls fluttering in the wind, a broken whisper floated into her ears.

"Ai…sha…"

Startled, Aisha quickly snapped her head to the side and glanced over her shoulder only to find an empty room behind her. The moment she returned to packing, the wind picked up and a whisper returned.

"Ai…sha…"

"Alright, I don't have time for this," Aisha muttered under her breath as her eyes narrowed and she glanced around the room, "Either show yourself or shut up!"

"Ai…sha…hehehe…"

Scowling fiercely, Aisha ran to the corner of the room trying to trace the source of the cackling whisper, stopping abruptly when the sound suddenly shifted. As the wind died down and Aisha held her breath, the last lingering traces of her name seemed to be coming from a small pile at her bedside. Then, as she approached, silence. Cautiously, she knelt beside the pile and slowly pushed it aside only to find a barren floor. Quietly, she turned back towards the pile and her eyes fixed on the small statuette that she had knocked over that morning. Although she could've sworn that it had no expression before, it seemed as if it started to grin. Her sense of time melted away as she slowly reached out towards the statuette, the faint echo of her name still ringing in her years as her fingertips brushed its cold marble claws.

"Aisha!" A quick shout filled the entrance of her tent and Aisha turned to see Elsword standing there glaring at her impatiently. Shaken from her daze, Aisha stood and set the statuette back on her night stand.

"Huh? Oh, what is it?" Aisha brushed an errant strand of hair out of her eye and tried to clear her head. Now grimacing with a furrowed brow, Elsword stepped inside and began to fume.

"What you mean 'what is it?'"

Aisha blinked and stared at him, half confused, "No, you're actually going to need to be more specific this time."

"You-" Elsword stuttered, lowering his eyes and looking away. "Everybody said you looked really pissed… so…" He blushed slightly, immediately aware of how bad he was expressing concern in a casual, sensible way. He braced himself and prepare for Aisha to tease them again, but instead he was answered with a sigh.

"Oh, that." Aisha frowned softly, her annoyance tempered by exhaustion, "Some stodgy old dried up shrine mages tried to tell me that they didn't want me to go inside the chapel, even though they were completely useless on their own and I had to break the seal on the door for them. They had a lotta nerve too, thinking they'd be able to stop me."

"Hmph." Elsword scoffed. "What did they look like? What were their names?"

Aisha's smiled slightly, "You can't the go beat them up, you know."

"I know, but…" He scowled and crossed his arms. "I don't get it, why'd they act like that when you're trying to help."

"Yeah but…" Aisha sighed wearily, "Old men are always like that. I've had the same problem with them since I was a kid."

Curious, Elsword turned toward her as his scowl relaxed. "Huh?"

"Nothing…" Aisha's shook her head slowly, "Well… Okay, imagine that you spent a lot of time getting really good at something, almost your entire life, and then one day a little girl comes along and does that same thing so much better than you that you didn't think it was even possible, and she does it in a way that you don't even understand… How do you think that would make you feel?"

Elsword's eyes when wide, "That would be amazing!" he quickly forgot the topic at hand and drifted off into daydreaming about a small girl swiftly dispatching an army of bears in the forest. "…I gotta learn how to do that…"

"That…" Aisha stared for a moment, stunned by his reaction before bursting into a fit of laughter. More than a little annoyed by her response, Elsword glared sternly. After a moment, Aisha collected herself and rose to her feet. "Sorry, it's just… That was a really perfect answer and I wasn't expecting that from you."

Still feeling as if he was being teased, Elsword frowned, though his irritation faded quickly. "Anyway, screw those guys. They're not as good as you so they're not worth getting mad about."

"Yeah, you're right." Aisha smiled bitterly, "I guess it's at least partly my fault though… I was pretty sure this is how people would react when I got my grimoire, so I should've expected this."

"Like hell you should have. It's not your fault they're all assholes and there's nothing wrong with your grimoire so why the hell should you take the blame for it." Elsword huffed and fumed, a spark of vicarious frustration alight in the corner of his eye. Aisha, however, was shocked into silence. She had thought that she had been the one who was ultimately responsible for the gazes of contempt and disdain levied against her, that it was her choice in studying her grimoire that caused people to shun her… and now, unexpectedly, she realized that was wrong. It wasn't her fault that the old mages looked at her with eyes full of spite; their hatred had already existed since long before they knew she even existed, and they were just now revealing it because they saw her as a threat… not to their shrine, but to their position and power.

As soon as this realization had sunken in, Aisha felt a sudden surge of pride, both in herself and in Elsword, for taking her side even when she wasn't entirely willing to take it herself. She blushed and are breath quivered, and before she knew it, she had wrapped Elsword in a tight embrace.

"You know, sometimes you say something really, really good." She clasped her hands together behind his back and rested her chin on top of his head, "Not often, but sometimes."

"A-A-Aisha w-wha-" Caught completely off guard, Elsword's face flushed red and his brain nearly overheated. After floundering about for several seconds, he slowly, clumsily raised his hands and pressed them against Aisha's back. For just one moment, even though their hearts were beating rapidly, they felt strangely calm as the wind faded away and the air grew still around them.

"Hello? Aisha~? Are you in here?" Rena pulled back the flap of Aisha's tent then stepped inside. The moment she did, Aisha disappeared to the other side of the room, leaving Elsword standing alone and awkwardly clutching the air in front of him.

"Rena!" Aisha stumbled and nearly fell over and she steadied herself, "What-what is it?"

Rena stared skeptically, "…did you just Teleport across the room…?"

"What?" Aisha glanced towards the wall, "Of course not."

"Y-Yeah, we were just in here, talking about magic, and other magic things," Elsword avoided Rena's gaze tapped the toe of his shoe into the ground. "Just like this right before you came in"

For a single tense moment, Rena stared at them in silence. Then, a broad, mischievous grin spread out across her face before quickly fading into her usual warm smile. "Well, finish up soon. Lento's gathering everyone at the gates. We're about to head inside."


	40. Decay

Decay

* * *

"Rearguard, get those doors propped open, I don't want them shutting on us again!" Lento shouted over his shoulder as he walked to the rank and file, preparing to leave his troops into the chapel's interior. So far, they had met with no resistance and the antechamber fell under their control in a matter of minutes, though an ambush was all but inevitable. With the doors secured and a relief squad stationed on the bridge, Lento marched to the front of the chamber and turned to face the crowd of anxious soldiers behind him.

"The path ahead of us diverges. To keep ourselves from falling into a trap, will be taking both paths at once! I will be leading the first division through the statuary while Penensio takes a second division through the basilica." He took three steps to his right and stood at Penensio's side. "Both paths meet at the cloister of the El lady, so pace yourselves and be on the lookout for an ambush!"

Looking out across the squads standing before him, Lento so the steel of resolve in their eyes and he nodded. "Now, let's get these doors open!"

The strangled groans of ancient stone echoed through the antechamber as a group of soldiers slowly pried open the path to the chapel's interior. Bracing himself for the rush of battle, Chung gripped his cannon and stared into the sliver of darkness that spilled out from the crack between the towering granite doors. As torchlight spilled into the seething shadows, his finger brushed the edge of his destroyer's trigger, his eyes searching frantically for the first sign of movement. After nearly a minute, both doorways stood open and not even the slightest sound escaped the darkness. Clenching his jaw, Chung walked up to the threshold and slammed his cannon into the ground.

"Everybody stand back!" As the nearby soldiers scrambled for cover, he fired a flare through the doors, chasing away to darkness and revealing an entirely empty chamber. Not only were there no demons to be seen, but the chapel had been stripped bare of all furnishings, furniture, and décor. All that remained were the cold torches hanging in the wall and the rubble that littered the floor.

"Hold a second, I'll get the torches lit…" Aisha cast her hand out and hurled a shower of sparks through the air, igniting the torches in the chapel interior before darting over to the opposite door and lighting those along the outer rim. The flames flickered softly, crackling as they burned away the thin layer of dust that had gathered on their surface. With no way of knowing just how long the torches had been left cold before their arrival, Chung found himself wondering if the demons had extinguished them on purpose or if they simply let them burn out because didn't need them in the first place. Before he could lose himself completely to his thoughts, the sharp timbre of Lento's voice cut through the stagnant air.

"Keep your guard up, watch each other's backs, and expect an ambush around every corner! If we move quickly then we can retake the chapel by nightfall. Now move out!"

As soon as the last soldier passed through the doorway, Raven reached up and pulled the portcullis down behind them. Although the prospect of being shut in rattled everyone's nerves, they had begrudgingly agreed that it was better to be locked inside the chapel themselves than to have the demons sneak out behind them and ravage the camp in their absence. With the path behind secured, Lento nodded and began the long, nerve wracking march through the silent halls of the abandoned chapel. Standing guard along with what's left flank, Chung scoured the room for the slightest sign of a demon's fangs, his eyes leaping from shadow to shadow as they melted in the firelight.

As the echoes of their footsteps were followed up by the vaults overhead, an unsettling silence wove its way through the soldiers' feet, around the hairs on the back of their neck and into their ears. Every second stretched into an eternity as they waded through the fresh layer of ash and debris that covered the floor of ancient, sacred stone. Soon, the silence worked its way into Chung's thoughts and his mind began to wander, past the dust and the dancing flames, across the archways and into the veil of shadows beyond. The soft torchlight scattered across the towering columns and overbearing statues that lined the corridor's edge, making the cold stone shift and writhe as if it were alive. Beneath the dust and debris underfoot Chung could just barely make out the outline of an old and weathered engraving that seemed to stretch across the entire floor. Although he couldn't see enough of it to make sense of its form or meaning, he found himself wondering if the history of the shrine was really so vast that it had to be inscribed not only on the walls but on the floors as well.

Just beyond the outer rim, a deep chasm cut through the floor, separating the center of the spire from its outer edge as if it were a lone island floating in the midst of a glassy sea. In the distance, Chung could see the soft silhouette of Penensio's squad making their way through the processional lane at the chapel's core. As his eyes focused on the unfathomable depths that surrounded them, the whispering glow of the nearby torches drew his gaze toward the face of a massive, roughhewn statue that had been braced between two pillars so tightly that it almost seemed to be pushing them aside. In the very next moment, as the torchlight faded and Chung's breath caught in his throat, the statue did just that.

As the roaring golem sprung to life, a noxious wind-swept to the core door and snuffed the torches out. A flurry of shouts rang out from the soldiers and drowned as the golem ripped away the pillars beside it and hurled them into the crowd, stomping and flailing about wildly as everyone scrambled for cover. With his eyes ill adjusted to the dark, Chung aimed his cannon at the sound of crumbling rock and fired, lodging a flare into the golem's neck and illuminating its mangled face. Although the creature was now in plain sight, it was otherwise unfazed and continued its relentless rampage, clenching its fists and slamming them down toward a pair of unprepared soldiers. Rushing to their aid, Chung hoisted his cannon overhead and blocked one of the golem's heavy arms only to be swiftly knocked aside by the other. With a quick and violent spin, the golem tossed the two soldiers high into the air and sent them hurtling towards the far wall.

As Chung struggled to his feet, time slowed and a flood of sound closed in around him. From far ahead in the distance, he could hear the strangled cries of shrieking demons and the echoes of clashing steel. At his side, he could hear orders and screams flying past his ears, their message muffled by the unnerving grinding of stone against stone as the golem stomped across the floor toward him. As he struggled to catch his breath and recover, a shower of sparks flew through the air as a soldier's axe chipped away at the golem's arm. Unflinching, the living stone turned and snatched the soldier up by the arm, raising her high into the air, and squeezing. The course snap of breaking bone sent a surge of electricity through Chung's brain and he leapt forward, bounding over the broken pillars and driving his cannon into the golem's arm. Without a moment's hesitation, he pulled the trigger.

Stone shattered in a brilliant flash and crumbled away as the wounded soldier fell to the ground and the golem stumbled off balance. Just as the creature began to steady itself, a stream of arrows piled into its chest and sent it reeling backwards. Before Chung could regain his footing and attack, Raven was already at his side, his blade glowing faintly as it sliced cleanly through the golem's core. Within the breadth of a second, the towering broke apart into a heap of ragged stone. As a statue crumbled and fell away into the chasm below, silence settled in over the corridor as everyone anxiously prepared to meet a second attack. As the tension slowly faded from the air, Lento called his squad to order.

"Form rank and treat the wounded! All of the uninjured, form a perimeter! And get those torches lit!"

Gradually, the silence gave way to know whispers and low, painful moans. The torchlight returned just a moment later as Rena struck a glowing stone against the tip of her bow and fired a volley of flaming bolts through the air. With the corridor once again bathed in light, the aftermath of their skirmish presented itself in stark detail. Compared to the desolate but pristine state of the chapel only moments earlier, the amount of destruction that had taken place in just scarcely a half minute's time was staggering. The ancient tiles of the chapel floor were shattered and scattered about, their delicate fragments either stained black with demon's blood or trapped beneath mounds of ragged debris. Although everyone survived the assault, there were more than a dozen left injured and their nerves had been rattled. Turning aside abruptly, Chung rushed to the nearest wounded soldier and knelt down by her side.

"Are you alright? Where are you hurt?" He reached down to his side and nearly tore the medical kit from his belt. Coughing slightly, the soldier raised her head and glance toward her left arm.

"It's broken but I don't think I'm bleeding…"

Chung slowly pulled back the sleeve of her tunic and stared at her twisted and bruised arm beneath. "I'm… I'm sorry…" His voice cracked as he searched through his pack for a splint and gauze, "I'm sorry, I wasn't fast enough…"

His hands shook as he reached out to set the soldiers bone, shrinking back as the soldier let out a quiet, muffled gasp. "Don't worry about that! I'm-" she winced, sweat pouring down the side of her face as she clenched her jaw, "I'm alive, and that's better than being a pile of blood and pulp."

"But-"

"Here, let me take care of that…" Rena reached down and slid her fingers over Chung's shoulder, "Lento need you to help him signal the other group."

Chung paused, his hands fell to his side, and he nodded. "Okay… But, please, let me help!"

"Actually…" the soldier glanced aside to Rena, an uneasy smile on her face. "I would feel much safer with her… "

"Ah…" It was at this moment that Chung realized that he had never set a broken bone before in his life. Nodding awkwardly, he left the matter to Rena, grabbed his Destroyer, and headed out in search of Lento.

* * *

As the last flickering light of Chung's signal faded away, Eve nodded and turned aside to Penensio.

"It seems as if they were also attacked, though they sustained greater casualties than we did. They will need several minutes to treat the wounded."

"I see. Thanks." Penensio rested his hand on the hilt of his sword and surveyed his soldiers. "It's a miracle that we made it out of that ambush so quickly."

Eve parsed a quick, final message across the chasm and then closed her console. "That is likely because the enemy did not expect Oberon to be outfitted with infrared visual sensors." At the mention of his name, Oberon nodded and struck a dramatic pose while Penensio chuckled softly and smiled.

"Not quite sure what you mean by that, but your body guard there really saved us. When we get back, remind me to give him a medal."

"I am certain that he would appreciate that… however, he prefers to be rewarded with pastries."

"Hahaha, well, when we return, I'll see to it that-" Penensio suddenly fell silent, his brow furrowed as he glanced around the room. Lowering his voice, he motioned for his troops to fall into formation. "We may not be done with them yet. Something's coming…"

At the front of the squad, Aisha and Elsword room stood back to back staring into the shadows, their hands alight with fire as they trained their eyes on a strange, faint cloud of smoke that crept along the floor toward them. As he raised his blade and dug his feet in, Elsword blinked. By the time his eyes were open again, the jaws of a garish phantom hung in the air only inches from his face.

A noxious chill shot through Elsword's spine, overwhelming his senses and causing his fingers to twitch. Without thinking, he turned and pushed Aisha out of the way just as a ghastly claw cut through the air overhead. Raising his sword on instinct, he prepared to weather the blow when he felt himself being jerked back and away from the ghost as a pair of red knights pulled him from danger and cut through the seething smoke.

"Stay down and take cover!" The elder knight shouted back over his shoulder as the runes on his sword sizzled and sparked. Shaking his head out, Elsword glared indignantly and scoffed as he scoured the room for the necromancer that had conjured the beast. While the red knights formed a perimeter around the squad, Aisha stormed over to Elsword with a fierce and furious scowl.

"What the hell were you doing? You almost got your face clawed off!" She glared sternly and reached out to grab Elsword's arm when she realized that he wasn't paying attention. "I was about to teleport us both away, you didn't have to-"

Gritting his teeth and ignoring Aisha's concern, Elsword locked his gaze onto the faint glow of a demon's eyes high on a balcony up ahead. Dashing past the red knights, he rolled beneath a newly forming phantom and bounded over the broken pathway. With reckless haste he filled the air with fire, exposing a gnarled old necromancer chanting wildly and waving his arms as a half dozen phantoms materialized in the air around Elsword. Leaping away from the smoke, Elsword kicked off of the wall, landed on a statue's shield, and jumped high into the air holding his sword overhead. As he neared the balcony, he swung down swiftly… and missed. Having misjudged the distance, his blade fell short of its mark and he began to topple down toward the open maw of a howling shade. In the very next instant, he felt the searing pain of a ghastly claw tearing into the skin of his legs, and a wave of panic crashed down upon him.

Suddenly he found himself and Aisha's arms as she sailed through the air and carried him off to safety, flickering across the room as she dropped them both on the balcony behind the necromancer. Before the demon could turn to face her, she rushed forward and delivered a fistful of concentrated dark magic into its side, launching it over the railing and across the room. As the necromancer fell, Aisha blasted it with a stream of fire, scorching its fur and sending it tumbling down into the black ravine below. A moment later, the phantoms vanished and the black smoke faded away.

Now that electricity running through his nerves had calmed, Elsword took a deep, heavy breath and sat forward. Still saddled with a lingering sense of fear and frustration, he clenched his fist and lowered his head.

"…Thanks."

As soon as he spoke, Aisha turned and marched toward him. In a single motion she knelt down in front of him, placed her hands on his shoulders, and slammed her forehead into his.

"Ow, what-" When Elsword looked up, he nearly choked on his own voice. With Aisha's face only inches from his own, he saw her eyes quivering with rage and worry. As she squeezed his arms, her hands began to shake and her scowl softened.

"Idiot! What the hell were you thinking!?" She relaxed are grip and slumped back onto her heels. "What…"

"I-" Elsword gasped, his mind torn into many directions to form a response, "I just…" his voice was stunned and his words were frail as he recalled his actions and tried to come up with some explanation for what he now realized was a horrible plan. For all his searching, he could only conclude that at that time, that was what he felt like he needed to do. "What-what else was I supposed to do? You were in trouble and-"

Aisha glared sharply, "Don't act like you weren't! Neither of us was in any shape to fight those things back of the camp so what makes now any different?"

"I'm not a helpless kid." Elsword glowered, as much of annoyance as embarrassment, "I know how to fight so lay off, okay?"

"No one called you a kid, so why are you even bringing that up? And besides that, if you're gonna just swing and miss like that and obviously you have no idea what you're doing!" Aisha sighed heavily and stared into his eyes. "…why didn't you just knock it down with a spell… that's what you've always done before…"

"I don't… I don't know." Elsword's mouth wrinkled up awkwardly and he stared at a crack in the floor, "I just thought, if I kept doing that, then I wouldn't be strong enough." He ran his fingers across his forehead and ruffled his bangs, trying to shake loose a thought or memory that might help him explain himself better. Of course, all that he got for this was a head full of disheveled hair as a stubborn pout settled in across his face.

"Elsword. You're starting to piss me off." The fragile fury in Aisha's voice cracked as the torchlight flickered across her face. "Are you saying I'm weak because I only use magic and don't bash thing over the head?"

"No! That's not it!" He bit his lower lip, flustered and frustrated as he avoided Aisha's gaze. "But I'm not making any progress just reading books all day! I have to get stronger…"

"Why!?" Aisha shouted softly, her voice tinged with desperation, "Why… You're not making sense, what does running off like an idiot have to do with getting stronger!?"

"It just does, alright!?" Elsword leaned forward, driving his fist into the floor, "There's nothing else to explain!"

"Listen." Aisha gritted her teeth, her eyes glistening as they overflowed with frustration and worry, "I'm trying to understand why you just ran off and nearly died for no reason so either tell me what's going on or go back to camp!"

Elsword fumed. "There's nothing to explain, okay!? I just need to get stronger and I can't do it by standing back and throwing magic around!"

"Why Not!?" As Aisha stood and shouted, Elsword leapt to his feet and nearly screamed.

"Cause if I do I'll never be as strong as Elsa!"

As those words crossed his lips, Elsword's eyes glowed brightly, with as much passion and fervor as fear and anguish. Blinking, Aisha slowly made sense of Elsword's distress.

"Elsa… your sister? But…" Since she had scarcely heard more than a few words about Elsa, she struggled to understand the significance of Elsword's outburst, but she could see very clearly that this was a painful subject for him. While the form of her next question lingered on her tongue, Elsword turned aside and slumped down against the balcony's railing.

"It's not good enough, unless I can be as strong as her… If I can't, then I can't protect anyone, and I can't do anything. If I'm not gonna be useless, I've gotta get stronger…"

Although she didn't understand entirely, Aisha closed her eyes for a moment and tried to calm herself. Without a word, she walked over to the railing and sat down beside Elsword. After spending a few seconds in silence, Elsword glanced aside at her suspiciously.

"What?"

"I don't know…" Aisha stared off into the shadows, her mouth straight and her eyes weary. "I don't know what your sister was like. I've only heard a few things from the Red Knights when they talked about her, and she sounds amazing… but that doesn't mean you have to be just like her if you want to be as strong as she is. And, besides…" she giggled lightly and poked Elsword's shoulder, "There's no way you can jump around and fight bears hand to hand. You're way too short."

"Hmph." Elsword scoffed. "I am not. I'll grow like 3 feet in the next year"

"Oh?" Aisha grinned, "Then I'll grow four feet, cause you'll never be taller than me."

Elsword smirked. "Yeah right…" For a moment he seemed content, but his smile faded quickly. Seeing the worry return to his face, Aisha moved a bit closer and let their shoulders touch.

"It's okay though, even if you can't be as strong as her, that doesn't mean you're worth less as a person. And you don't have to be strong in the same way as her either… you should do the things you like and what feels natural for you instead of forcing yourself to do something just because you think it's how things are supposed to be."

Elsword nodded quietly, turning his thoughts over and trying to make sense of his reality and the ideals that he had held as absolute since he could barely walk. He suddenly felt like a child, for rushing off blindly, for failing to live up to his sister's standards, for not understanding his own thoughts and feelings, and for making Aisha angry, again. The painful weight of regret pounded against his chest, and he did his best to stifle it at least for a little while. He was in the middle of what might as well have been a dungeon, surrounded by demons, and with a long day ahead, so self-reflection would have to wait. Still, he felt that this was something too important for him to ignore, and he kept hearing the echo of Aisha's words pass through his ears. Suddenly weary and worn, the only response he could muster was a firm nod, and a faint smile. "Yeah…" He felt a lump in his throat as he forced himself to meet Aisha's gaze. "A-and, I-I'm… sorry…" Blushing, he turned away and mumbled under his breath.

Gently and slowly, Aisha reached out and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. "Good. Now don't do that again, or I'll tell Rena about it."

"Gah! No!" A wave of panic spread across Elsword's face and Aisha giggled at him. As they stood up and dusted themselves off, they quickly realized that someone was staring right at them.

"If you are finished, the Commander is ready to move out." Eve hovered just over the balcony's edge, her hands delicately resting upon the rails. "If you had simply notified me that you were here then the others would not have spent so much time wondering if you had been injured."

"Wait, the others?" Elsword's eyes widened and he looked over the railing to find Penensio and the rest of his soldiers waiting impatiently below.

"Yes." Eve nodded, "I'm fairly certain that all of us heard you shouting."

"A-All… of us?" Aisha blushed, immediately dreading Eve's reply.

"That is correct. Rena signaled moments ago to ask if you were alright. Shall I tell her that you were simply carrying out your courtship rituals as usual?"

"NO!" Aisha and Elsword shouted in harmony, waving their hands and shaking their heads furiously.

"Just tell her that we're okay, that's all!" Aisha smiled awkwardly.

"Y-yeah, we're fine." Elsword blushed and nodded rapidly. "Let's just get back down there, they're probably tired of waiting for us."

"…Very well." Eve flashed a quick signal across the chasm and lowered herself to the ground. As soon as she was out of sight, Elsword and Aisha let out a heavy sigh. Holding her hand out, Aisha turned to Elsword and grabbed her wand. Returning her gaze, he took her hand and the two of them teleported back down to the ground below.

* * *

After an arduous day of repelling ambushes and trudging through the dark, both squads reunited before the massive staircase that led up into the cloister of the El Lady. Of the one hundred and fifty soldiers that had entered the chapel that morning, twenty-six had been injured so badly that they could no longer fight, and three hovered close to death. Standing at the top of the stairs, however, their hearts were high; with only one room left to explore, that all but reclaimed the chapel in the space of a single day. With all eyes turned toward the cloister doors and the captains lined up at the front of the squad, Lento nodded and gave the order to open the final room.

The broad cloister doors opened easily, swinging in without resistance as if they were made of parchment and not ancient oak. With the path now open, a warm shower of light poured out into the corridor from the candelabra that still burned brightly within. To everyone's surprise, the cloister appeared untouched, as if it had never seen so much as a demon's footprint, much less the ravaging that the rest of the chapel bore witness to. Pensively, Raven and Rena took point and headed inside.

"… It's all clear." Raven studied the corners of the room, his voice relaxed but his hand still wrapped around the handle of a sword. "Or at least it looks that way."

Breathing out slowly, Lento let his shoulders drop and he turned toward his troops. "Alright, good work everyone. First division, I want you to escort the wounded back to camp, and bring them news of our success... The chapel is ours."

A round of cheers rang out through the hallway, their enthusiasm muffled by the weight of the wounds and horrors that had been inflicted upon them. As the momentary celebration faded away and the first division gathered up their injured comrades, Penensio stared curiously into the cloister itself.

"Hm. Curious. I wonder why they left just this room untouched… If you don't mind, I'd like the captains to accompany me as I look around a bit."

"…Alright, go ahead." Lento nodded and lowered his voice, "But keep quiet about this. The priesthood will have you hanged if you disturb anything inside. It took all of my authority just to get them to allow a dark magician and the queen of the Nasod inside here."

"Heh…" Penensio smiled and patted Lento on the shoulder, "Don't worry, we'll just be a few minutes and no one will ever even know we were there."

As he crossed the threshold, Eve and Oberon turned to follow. "I am curious about this El Lady as well… how old are the artifacts in this room?"

"Well…" Penensio stroked his chin and glanced around "Supposedly they predate the Last Day, though it'd be impossible for us to tell whether that's true or not if."

"As long as it keeps us from seeing the mages and priests again, I'd be glad to spend all day and there." Aisha laced her fingers behind her head and stretch her arms out as she, Elsword, and Chung passed inside.

"Just be careful in there! If you break anything, or even so much as much a statue and the priests hear of it they'll have the kingdom put your head on a stick faster than the demons would." As soon as Lento issued his warning, the cloister doors snapped shut. In an instant Lento's eyes when wide and he rushed to the door. Before his hand could burst surface, however, Penensio's confident voice spilled out into the hall.

"Ah, no worries! I seem to have bumped a switch of some sort while I was, uh… looking around."

"…honestly." Lento sighed heavily and peered through the crack in the door. "It looks like it's still unlocked, so we could open it at any time… But it seems like you set some sort of trigger. Probably one of the traps to keep intruders from storming an enticing anything they pleased."

Penensio chuckled awkwardly, "Well, imagine that! Must've activated all on its own when we walked past… hahaha…ha." He approached the door and knelt down, studying the fine mechanisms buried at its base. "I'll see what I can do about disarming this, but in the meantime we're all fine in here and there doesn't seem to be any more danger."

"Yes, so long as you keep your hands in your pockets." Raven's dry voice drifted through the doorway and Lento's forehead fell into his hands.

"Alright… just hurry it up, the Priests will be coming the next few hours to make sure the chapel's intact, and I can't very well blame the damage on the demons if you're still trapped inside there when they arrive."

"Lento, Relax! You should calm down, you're tense after a long day's march. I'll have this all sorted in a second!"

Lento leaned against the wall, his eyes weary as if he'd just lost a year off of his life. "Yes, well, forgive my lack faith."

While Penensio studied the trap embedded in the door, Aisha and Rena worked their way around the outer edge of the cloister, moving from the shadow of one towering tapestry to the next as they finally settled before the small golden statue of the El Lady. From the fold in her eyelids to the stray hairs across her brow, her statue was cast in greater detail than any that Aisha had seen before. In fact, there was so much detail and care in the craftsmanship of her features that are statue almost looked more real than Aisha's own reflection.

"I wonder if that's what she really looked like…"

Rena leaned in and in and lowered her voice, as if she wanted to avoid disturbing the statue's rest. "Supposedly, this was made when she was still alive. There's no way to tell of course, and it definitely doesn't look like something that's thousands of years old but… Then again, not much in this place actually does." She stepped back slightly, staring up at the murals and carvings engraved into the walls, studying the history captured in their frames. Nearby, Elsword crouched down and poured over a plaque in the corner, its surface emblazoned with the outline of a dark, monstrous figure.

"Hey, I thought this was the first time they'd ever seen demons…"

"It is," Lento answered from beyond the door, "Why do you say that?"

Elsword glared skeptically at the ancient engraving, unable to ignore the striking similarity between the dark figure on the plaque before him and the demons he had seen just minutes before. "Well 'cause it kinda looks like they've got pictures of 'em all over in here."

"Ah, no, that's…" Rena glanced over his shoulder and leaned forward, her eyes falling as her smile grew heavy. "That's a picture of one of the dark elves…"

"…The what?" Elsword blinked and stared at her quizzically.

"The dark elves… At least that's what they called them here. Their name in my language doesn't sound so sinister but it's a lot harder to translate." She brushed her knees off and lowered herself to the floor, sitting forward to study the plaque. "There's all gone now, or at least they have been for a long time… there was a war between the dark elves and the human kingdoms on Lurensia almost a hundred years ago, and the dark elves…" Rena's voice trailed away as her smile collapsed into a bitter frown, "…'lost'."

"What do you mean 'lost'?" Aisha asked warily, unsure of whether she should push Rena any further but at the same time unable to deny her own curiosity. Rising to her feet, Rena stared at the dark figure with a fond, sorrowful smile.

"There are no dark elves on Lurensia anymore. That's… what I mean by 'lost'." She paused, clasping her hands behind your back and turning away to the opposite wall. "Do know why they called the things we're fighting 'demons', even though they'd never seen them before? It's because 'Demons' aren't really anything in particular… It's just the name we give to things that we think are monstrous, evil, and that we want to kill without feeling remorse…"

"Ah, I think I've got it!" Penensio clapped his hands together and slid his fingers beneath the doorway, inscribing a tiny rune into the dust near the trap's trigger. With all his focus placed on the mechanism buried in the floor, he didn't even notice the faint wisp of smoke wrapping itself around his throat. "Okay, I think I've- AGH!" Just before he could disarm the trap, a great shadowy claw formed around his neck and lifted him all the way to the ceiling, slamming him into the vaulted arches and then dropping him nearly twenty feet to the floor. By the time the others noticed what had happened, Penensio was already unconscious.

Reacting instantly, Oberon leapt across the room and swung out towards the floating claw only to see it vanish before his blade could connect. As he turned to scan the room, a pair of claws formed behind him and caught his arms in their crushing grip, squeezing him tightly and tossing him towards the far wall. Rushing to intercept, Elsword and Chung caught him in cushioned his fall, though even after setting him back on his feet, Oberon didn't respond.

"Oberon! What's wrong!?" Chung shook his shoulders to no avail and Eve rushed over, staring in shock.

"His systems have been powered down! Avoid those claws, they will leave you unconscious!" As she spoke, everyone nodded and spread themselves out, keeping their eyes fixed on the floating hands in the corner of the room. As they took their stances and waited for the chance to strike, an eerie, disembodied echo filled the room.

"Very astute…" The voice moved through the air behind Eve, bursting into a cloud of black smoke and ensnaring her instantly. "The creatures of this world never cease to entertain me." As Eve's eyes flickered and she collapsed on the floor, the swirling smoke tested itself together into the form of a ghastly wraith, an extravagant stole draped across its billowing arms and its piercing eyes glowing from beneath a dour hood. As the phantom inspected its adversaries, Rena glanced aside to Aisha and Elsword.

"We'll try to keep her busy… you two search for the necromancer."

"If you follow that route then you'll be sorely disappointed." The phantom vanished and appeared behind Raven, swiping towards him and only barely missing as he bounded away. "I'm afraid we're completely alone here. It is just you, and I, and very soon… there will be only me." A pair of disembodied claws swept across the room, chasing down Rena as she fired off a volley of arrows only to miss when the phantom dissolved into a cloud of black mist. Standing her ground, Rena pulled her bow taut and glanced around the room.

"What are you? None of the demons know our language," She gave a wry smile, "So why do you?"

Immediately a web of chains appeared in the air around Rena and lashed her to the wall, knocking her bow from her hands as the phantom reappeared in front of her, cackling. "I am Amethyst, and that is all you'll need to know before you die…"

As Amethyst drew back its claws, Raven rushed forward and slid across the ground, his sword gleaming as he raised it high overhead to block the phantom's grasp. The air sizzled and popped as Amethyst's hand split open on Raven's blade, causing the wraith to reel back and hiss violently before floating off toward the center of the room and raising its hands to the sky. Seizing the moment and rushing up from behind, Chung leapt forward and drove his Destroyer into Amethyst's back. Before he could fire, the phantom shifted aside and his cannon's blast caught only the edge of its arm, leaving little more than a scratch on its shadowy surface. As Amethyst drifted away, a blood chilling shriek filled the air and a swarm of shades erupted from the ground at Chung's feet, clouding his vision and dropping into his knees before finally knocking him out.

Turning back toward Raven as he cut Rena from her chains, Amethyst held its hands out and fired off a burst of black smoke toward them. Just as it was about to hit, Aisha muttered an incantation beneath her breath and teleported in between them, raising a powerful shield that blocked the phantom's attack.

"You will be a bother, I can already tell." Amethyst vanished and reappeared in front of Aisha, slamming its hands down toward her. Quickly rushing toward the door, Elsword grabbed one of the thick, broken chains that now lay across the ground, covered in fire and hurled it toward the wraith. Although the chain passed right through Amethyst's arms, it snagged against the stole on its shoulders and startled it just long enough for Aisha to escape. Infuriated, Amethyst cast off the chain and rose up to the ceiling, howling sharply and filling the air with ghosts and shades. Desperate to stop its assault, Elsword and Aisha hurled every spell they had toward the ceiling, filling the air with plasma and flames while Rena and Raven frantically tried to clear the air around them. Within just a few seconds, however, the noxious fumes of the summoned shades overwhelmed them and, one by one, they all fell to the ground.

"Hmph." Amethyst scoffed as the air slowly cleared. "Troublesome. I was certain that this form would be impervious to the weapons of this world… but the danger is still minimal, as expected." Floating down toward the floor, the phantom tossed aside Rena and Raven's unconscious bodies and drifted over to Aisha as she lay gasping for breath on the ground. "This one, however… this one was surprising. What is it that you have tucked away in this bag of yours…"

Extending its claws out slowly, Amethyst reached into Aisha's pack and immediately recoiled, hissing and clutching its fingers as if they had just been bitten. As Amethyst shrunk back, Aisha coughed and pushed herself up off the floor. Tightening her grip on her wand, she cast a sphere of concentrated dark magic out into the phantom's face. As the sphere burst and crackled above her, Aisha scrambled up to her feet only to find a dark, writhing claw close in around her mouth. The next moment, she fell to the ground with a sharp and painful gasp.

With everyone around him slowly fading away, Elsword could just barely keep his eyes open. His entire body ached from his earlier wounds, and it was only thanks to that pain that he was able to stay awake. When Amethyst turned back toward him, he shut his eyes and desperately searched his thoughts for a course of action. His sword would be useless; it would just pass through the phantom's shadow and leave him vulnerable to attack. Just the same, none of his spells would have any effect. As Amethyst calmly gathered Eve, Oberon, and Chung up and dropped them in the corner along with Rena and Raven, the blood in Elsword's veins began to burn.

There was nothing he could do, and nothing that he could think to do. He knew that there was nothing he could do on his own, but he had no way of calling for help. No scenario that he could imagine ended with everyone's survival, and his chest tightened up as if he had just been crushed by a mountain when he realized that there was nothing he could possibly do to change that. With all options exhausted, he took one last chance and opened his eyes and when he did, they landed on the shining, silver emblem attached to Penensio's belt. It was within his reach, but he wasn't sure if he would have the strength to grab it. With Amethyst quickly approaching again, he buried his face in the floor and gathered all of his remaining strength.

As Amethyst extended its claws out toward him, Elsword rolled away, pushed himself up to his feet, and then yanked the cloister doors open. As the trap sprung, he dove of the way and a brilliant flash filled the air as Amethyst was caught between a pair of gleaming sigils. Shocked, the phantom clawed at the sigils, tearing them away a bit by bit as it shrieked and hissed. As the sigils crumbled away, Elsword rushed to where Penensio lay, grabbing the rune from his belt and the sword from his sheath. Still unsteady and scarcely strong enough to stand, his legs shook as he rushed towards Amethyst, his hands gripping the rune so tightly that blood began to pour from his palm. With the pain mounting in his limbs and across his spine, he stumbled forward, his thoughts melting into a single, desperate plea.

_Work! Please, work!_

Tearing furiously at the seals, Amethyst broke free just as a rune covered blade pierced the air between its eyes. With a final, haggard gasp, the phantom's body burned away and its vestments crumbled into dust until all trace of Amethyst's ghastly form had faded from existence. Beyond exhaustion and covered in sweat and dust, Elsword grinned triumphantly and scoffed before falling forward and collapsing on the floor.


End file.
